PRINEVILLE, OR -- Oregon’s Department of Education has released its At-A-Glance profiles for schools and districts, using data from the last school year. Crook County Schools officials are praising that district’s improvements. Click HERE to view results for your district or school.
As a whole, Crook County Schools saw a 7% increase in Third Grade English/Language Arts, to 47%. The state average is 40%. In Eighth Grade Math, the district rose to 34%; a 6% increase over last year. THe state average is 26%. “We are thankful student test scores are improving, but we must move the needle upward more quickly. Our goal is to see a much higher percent of students achieving at grade level, so we’ll be rolling up our sleeves and working with staff to find solutions,” Dr. Duane Yecha, Crook County School District superintendent, said in a statement.
The At-A-Glance report looks at a broad range of data about districts and individual schools. One concern is a decline in regular attendance. ODE's Jon Weins says regular attendees fell 2% last year, "When we look at the declines, they are most concerning in the early grades. We did see the largest declines at the early grades and actually really small declines at high school."
ODE Director Dr. Charlene Williams says the problem started with the pandemic, "First cause, of course, coming out of the pandemic is the residual implications that we are still learning about as a result of the pandemic." She adds, "During the pandemic there were some financial supports that were offered to families around rental assistance and other means that that provided financial relief." But those programs have ended, "Those financial burdens are landing back in the laps of some of our families and they are struggling once again with some cases of food insecurity and finding stable housing, and those kinds of things."
The Every Day Matters program was successful in keeping kids in school, but the Legislature cut its funding during the pandemic. ODE Assistant Superintendent Scott Nine says funding has resumed and it'll make a difference, "We're using that $6 million to fund community organizations and the ESDs to scale statewide."
