Why do Oregon public schools get such bad ratings?

[redguard57]

Originally Posted by BendLocal

For absenteeism rate the best is Texas at 16.5%. Anyone know if Texas has the best preforming schools in the US?

Oregon has one of nation's worst school absenteeism rates, contributing to mediocre reading and math skills, study says | OregonLive.com


Worst
1. Montana 28%
2. New Mexico 26
3. Oklahoma 25
4. Oregon (tie) 24
Arizona 24

Best
1. Texas 16.5%
2. Illinois (tie) 17
Indiana 17
Massachusetts 17
5. Georgia 17.5

Source: Attendance Works analysis of 2013 National Assessment of Educational Progress results

Depends what tests. Oregon and Texas's NAEP scores are similar... in the ~35% proficiency range. Texas a little better in math. Both quite bad in reading. They're both in the mid 30s for NAEP proficiency. Texas uses its large Hispanic population as an excuse, though. New Mexico and Montana blame their relatively large Native American population. http://www.nationsreportcard.gov/rea...2015/#?grade=4 I don't really accept the existence of a poor population in your state as justification for bad education, but it's how the states typically respond. Oregon cannot those excuses at all, however, having neither a high percentage of Native Americans nor Hispanics.

Attendance helps the high school graduation rate considerably. Texas graduates 88% in 4 years, Oregon 68%. Although this can also vary by who does the counting and how, the difference clearly is that the Oregon students are not in school. http://www.governing.com/gov-data/ed...ethnicity.html

My biggest problems are students treating attendance and assignments as if they are optional. The only good thing about it is that they seem to accept that their lack of work ethic & persistence is deserving of a low grade.

Demographically in terms of population size and racial composition, and in terms of per capita income, Oregon is similar to Iowa. Yet Iowa gets better K-12 education outcomes & has better universities.

[Yankeemama]

It's hard to judge Portland Metro schools as the rural districts bring down the State's ratings. I know my kid, who is now in BSD, is competitive with my relatives in East coast states but OR needs to better fund its schools. The schools WITHIN a district such as PPS vary greatly even when schools are a mile or two apart. Part of the reason we moved out to Beaverton. In OR parents need to advocate and be involved in their kids' educations and encourage reading for pleasure at home from a young age. We have been taking our kids to OMSI, Children's Museum, Oregon Zoo, aquariums in other states, museums in other states, theater and live music events. We don't want our kids to be robots. But yeah, we are lucky to be able to be hands- on parents. The gap between the haves and the have-nots seems to be growing and quite significant in the Portland area.

[BendLocal]

Originally Posted by redguard57

Depends what tests. Oregon and Texas's NAEP scores are similar... in the ~35% proficiency range. Texas a little better in math. Both quite bad in reading. They're both in the mid 30s for NAEP proficiency.

Looks like we cross posted and you quoted my post before I found this school ranking article.

But look at the ranking of HS across the US.

How States Compare in the 2016 Best High Schools Rankings | Best High Schools | US News

Texas is way down the list at 28 while Oregon is ranked higher at 25.

Very interesting considering that Texas has the best absenteeism rate while Oregon has one of the worst.

[j_k_k]

Originally Posted by redguard57

The Oregon branch of AFT doesn't have that much power & only 15,000 members.

And in that particular case, most of the members are higher ed. There are a few AFT locals that are not, but far as I'm aware, those are classified, not certificated. So when it comes to teachers' bargaining units in Oregon, yes, nearly all of those would be OEA.

These days, I think someone has to be practically a saint to want to teach. But I am sure that if we paid them commensurately with their (your) responsibility, we'd attract better teachers. Some states have it really bad. I was once sitting on the airplane headed for Florida, next to a guy from Ocala who was returning from Missoula. Turned out he was there trying to recruit teachers--yes, all that way. He then tried to recruit me. They also have that problem on Indian reservations, mostly due to high turnover and a very difficult environment--especially if one is not an Indian.

[karlsch]

Originally Posted by BendLocal

Very interesting considering that Texas has the best absenteeism rate while Oregon has one of the worst.

The high school ranking has to do with test scores. Texas has much bigger percentage of the "left behind" students tracked by the No Child Left Behind Program than Oregon.

The absentee rate is one indicator that Texas is actually doing a good job educating the students that they are given.

When evaluating the quality of teaching, you can't just look at raw test scores, you have to adjust them to reflect the demographics (race, income, etc.) of the student body. If you do this you find that Texas is doing a comparably good job educating their students.

More info here: How Do States Really Stack Up on the 2015 NAEP? - Education Next : Education Next

[redguard57]

Originally Posted by BendLocal

Looks like we cross posted and you quoted my post before I found this school ranking article.



Very interesting considering that Texas has the best absenteeism rate while Oregon has one of the worst.

28 & 25 are pretty close. If I had to guess at an interpretation, I'd say that the absenteeism doesn't affect the test scores. Might actually help them, because if a bad student is not there, he/she can't submit a bad test. Thus it's a neutral effect. Where attendance will show a problem is in program completions.

From my personal experience... I get a lot of A's & B's... and then a bunch of F's. A relatively low number of mediocre C and D grades. The students that don't give up & quit coming to class, rather persist in doing the work & trying.. they do well, better than average, often WAY better than average. I get a lot of students who struggle at a borderline level for a while & then disappear from the face of the earth, ensuring that a borderline grade becomes an F. Quite different from Texas, where I'd have a lot of students fail early on but then, with help, recover to a barely passing level. Oregon students don't seem to take initial failure well & don't seek out help. I can only meet them halfway.

There seems to be a general laissez faire attitude about it all, from the students themselves, from parents, & also from administrators & legislators, also from other instructors. No one seems to care.

[BendLocal]

Originally Posted by karlsch

When evaluating the quality of teaching, you can't just look at raw test scores, you have to adjust them to reflect the demographics (race, income, etc.) of the student body. If you do this you find that Texas is doing a comparably good job educating their students.

The rankings I linked are based on far more than test scores.

How U.S. News Calculated the 2016 Best High Schools Rankings | Best High Schools | US News

RTI implemented the U.S. News comprehensive rankings methodology, which is based on these key principles: that a great high school must serve all of its students well, not just those who are college bound, and that it must be able to produce measurable academic outcomes to show it is successfully educating its student body across a range of performance indicators.

IMO it is worth a read.

[leastprime]

We sent ours to Public.
Great education.
Same HS that I went to.
Graduated 1st in HS with IB diploma

Mostly, IMO; You get out, what you put in. The more you put in, the more you get out.