Academic Skills No Longer Necessary in Oregon

Academic skills no longer necessary in Oregon, after State Board of Education “suspends” test requirements until A.D. 2029.

By Eileen Griffin

Oregon’s State Board of Education eliminated standards for math, reading, and writing in a unanimous vote.

Oregon students will not have to prove competence in math, reading,  and writing until 2029, The Oregonian reports.

The removal of academic requirements began in 2020 but parents and community members have been pressing for reinstatement of the standards.

In a statement to KTVZ News, the Board of Education wrote that standards would not completely disappear, they would just be suspended.

“Let’s be clear,” said the board. “We haven’t eliminated assessments for Oregon students. What’s changed is the insistence on a specific test score for graduation. Our students still need to meet essential skill requirements as indicated in their coursework, [Career Technical Education] pathway options and more.”

“The suspension provides an opportunity for the State Board and Oregon’s Legislature to collaborate with and engage more deeply with the community to design and implement policies that better serve our students,” states the board.

Some people favor the suspension of graduation requirements to help marginalized communities, The Oregonian reported after the initial vote was delayed in September. Advocates for removal of the standards say that it presents an “unnecessary hurdle” for historically marginalized communities.

“We are unable to ethically make a different decision at this point,” Education Board Chair Guadalupe Martinez told KATU TV in September. “It is also unethical for us to continue to require this when we know it can continue to cause harm and has had no change in how students are performing.”

Board members in favor of removing the standards also said the additional academic work required to prepare for standardized tests prevented students from participating in extra-curricular activities.

Oregon’s Department of Education provided research to support the idea of removing academic standards. Assistant Superintendent of Research, Dan Farley, told KATU that standardized tests were racist.

“The ways that students met the requirements, the types of diplomas that they got could all be predicted by race, ethnicity, IEP status, multilingual learner status,” Farley said. “We have to do what we can to disrupt those basically racist outcomes.”

Christine Drazan, former candidate for governor of Oregon, released a statement on X, formerly Twitter, condemning the move.

“The Board failed to discuss their responsibility for lagging academic achievement in our state,” the statement says. “Instead, they cast the blame on a tool used to measure a student’s ability to read, write, and do math.”

Over 1,400 Oregonians submitted written testimony in support of standards of academic accomplishment for graduation.

“It’s disappointing that these unelected bureaucrats decided to ignore public comment and continue down a path that neglects their responsibility to help students meet high standards,” Drazan wrote.

Parents and community members advocating for the return to standards say that without the graduation requirements, diplomas become meaningless. Employers can no longer assume that a high school diploma translates into basic skill competency.

Oregon parent Mary Miller spoke against the removal of standards at the board meeting. Miller said that students are not prepared after completing high school.

“Oregon is suspending the test for political reasons,” Miller said. “They have put a lot of activism into the curriculum. They don’t have time to teach basics anymore because they are substituting in new language arts articles, new tribal history ethnic studies.”

Parent Jeff Myers said, “Over the past 10 years we have seen a continual decline in student academic performance as measured both by our own state testing as well as national results like the NAEP (National Scorecard) and at the same time we have seen high school graduation go up. Can any of you explain?”

“The Oregon Board of Education, run by CRT ideologues, voted to extend a Democrat-sponsored law to 2029 that allows students to graduate without proving they can read, write or do math,” wrote Andy Ngo on X. “The board said the requirement impacts students of color.”

“Why not just close the schools?” wrote self-described “libertarianish” Jack Spitz on X. “If people don’t need to learn to read, write, and do math why do they need to sit in class?”

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