Newberg High School students made impressive progress toward meeting Oregon’s rigorous reading, writing and math standards according to 2010-11 state assessment results released by the Oregon Department of Education today. Compared to the previous year, Newberg High School students meeting or exceeding standards

• improved eight percentage points in reading – four points above the state average
• improved 15 percentage points in writing – four points above state averages
• improved six percentage points in math – eight points above the state average

High school students posted strong gains across all demographic groups.

“The achievement gap is closing at the high school level,” said Superintendent Dr. Paula Radich. “While we still have work to do, the results of focused efforts to improve reading, writing and mathematics show in these assessment results.”

Oregon high school students have an added incentive to pass state reading, writing and math assessment tests. Beginning with the class of 2012, students are required to pass state reading assessments in order to graduate. The following year writing becomes a graduation requirement. Students in the class of 2014 must meet math standards to receive a diploma.

Reading
Elementary and high school results continue to show growth in reading compared to the previous year. All grade levels outperformed state averages by five to nine percentage points. The achievement bar will rise for reading next year as achievement standards will increase next year at elementary and middle school levels.

Writing
The percent of high school students who met or exceeded state writing standards increased by 15 percentage points. While Newberg elementary and middle school students continue to perform above state, teachers across the district will continue to focus on improving writing skills. The state will limit writing assessments to 11th grade only next year. Beginning with the class of 2013, students must demonstrate their proficiency in writing to receive a diploma.

Math
New math standards raised the achievement bar for elementary and middle school students this past year. The move better aligns state math standards with rigorous national and international expectations, however, math scores in middle and elementary schools are generally lower statewide than prior years. Newberg middle and elementary students outperformed their peers across the state at nearly every grade level.

Science
District elementary and high school students increased the percent of students meeting or exceeding standards by four percentage points over the previous year.
Middle school science results are six percentage points higher than state averages.

OAKS (Oregon Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) results by school and district are online at
http://www.ode.state.or.us/data/schoolanddistrict/testresults/reporting/pagrsurpressed.aspx.