Latest Chalkboard report: Oregon continues to face K-12 challenges
Contacts:
Chalkboard Project
503-542-4325
info@chalkboardproject.org
ECONorthwest
John Tapogna, Managing Director
503-222-6060 (office)
tapogna@portland.econw.com
Latest Chalkboard report: Oregon continues to face K-12 challenges
PORTLAND – October 18, 2007 – An updated report showing how the Oregon K-12 education system ranks nationally in a number of categories is now available on the Chalkboard Project Web site. Its news: Oregon schools are making some progress in a variety of categories, but clear challenges remain.
“The Condition of K-12 Education in Oregon: 2007 Update” reviews the state of Oregon schools in terms of student achievement, per-student spending and a host of other categories. The report was compiled by ECONorthwest, an economic consulting firm based in Portland. Previous versions of the report were produced in 2005 and 2006.
In short, conditions have improved slightly in several categories, though Oregon still lags behind in many key areas.
“Oregon schools are good, but Oregonians want them to be great – among the nation’s best,” said Sue Hildick, Chalkboard Project president. “This latest ‘conditions’ report shows very clearly that we aren’t there yet. We need to increase our focus on proven strategies that will raise student achievement, which include everything from providing more rigorous and relevant professional development for teachers to making sure every child is a reader by third grade.”
Among the recent findings:
- Oregon is making limited progress in student achievement. Scores are up slightly on national assessments, but Oregon students aren’t gaining relative to their peers in other states. Achievement in Oregon remains barely above the national average in many categories, while some subgroups of students are behind their national peers.
- Oregon continues to reduce the high school dropout rate, but has not made similar progress in increasing the proportion of students who graduate from high school within four years.
- Oregon’s student/teacher ratio is declining, but still high compared to other states; Oregon continues to have among the five highest average class sizes in the nation.
- The proportion of Oregon K-12 students in poverty and with special needs continues to increase at a greater pace than growth in the overall student population.
- School attendance has improved since 2000, but Oregon students still miss school more often than their peers, and missing school lowers student achievement.
- Oregon’s per-student spending remains below the national average but is gaining ground, primarily because of increases in staff and student support services costs, student transportation and employee benefits.
- Oregon’s remains below the national average in share of personal income dedicated to education, though the gap is not widening, as in previous years.
- Oregon’s average total compensation for school employees is 11 percent above the national average, but the gap has narrowed in recent years. The average salary (exclusive of benefits) is now less than two percent higher than the national average.
- More than half of Oregon’s teachers are 45 or older, and public schools will confront a major wave of retirement sooner than will most other employers.
To read the complete 2007 “conditions” report, as well as earlier versions from 2005 and 2006: Research & Reports
About Chalkboard Project
Launched in early 2004, Chalkboard Project exists to inspire Oregonians to do what it takes to make the state’s K-12 public schools among the nation’s best, while strengthening our school system’s financial accountability to taxpayers. Chalkboard aims to help create a more informed and engaged public who understand and address the tough choices and trade-offs required to build strong schools, and to enable statewide programs that can be applied at the local level to improve school quality, accountability, and funding. To date, Chalkboard has connected with about 100,000 Oregonians, asking for their best ideas to strengthen the state’s K-12 public schools. It also has partnered with other education organizations to create the Open Book$ Web site www.openbooksproject.org to track school district spending.
Chalkboard – an initiative of Foundations For A Better Oregon – is sponsored by a growing list of independent foundations. The founding five foundations are: The Collins Foundation, The Ford Family Foundation, Jeld-Wen Foundation, Meyer Memorial Trust, and The Oregon Community Foundation. For more information about Chalkboard and to learn how to get involved, call (877) YOUR-K12 or visit www.chalkboardproject.org.
