Students exempt from essential skill proficiency testing

Posted Oct. 28, 2021

By Tristan Hansen

Staff Editor

Students across Oregon will not be required to demonstrate proficiency of Essential Skills to graduate for at least the next three school years.

Oregon SB744 passed the state House 38-18 on June 14th and the Senate 16-13 on June 16th on party-line votes, with most Democrats being in favor and most Republicans being opposed, before being signed into law by Governor Kate Brown nearly a month later on July 14th. The text of SB744 “suspends [the] requirement of showing proficiency in Essential Learning Skills as [a] condition of earning [a] diploma” for the 2021-22, 2022-23, and 2023-24 school years. Additionally, the bill directs the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) to review state requirements for high school diplomas and report their findings to legislative committees relating to education by September 2022.

This policy was precipitated by the ODE’s Graduation Pathways 2020 guidance, which initially suspended the Essential Skills requirement for graduation for the 2019-20 school year as part of Kate Brown’s decision to extend school closures throughout the remainder of the year.

The ODE outlines nine different essential skills in the areas of reading, writing, mathematics, and critical thinking, among others, and from 2012-19, required that students demonstrate proficiency in three of them to graduate. Students had to “read and comprehend a variety of text,” “write clearly and accurately,”,and “apply mathematics in a variety of settings,” and could demonstrate their proficiency in these areas either by passing the Smarter Balanced assessment or by submitting a portfolio of work samples. The former was by far and away the more popular option among schools and students, with 77% of writing essential skills requirements, 88% of reading essential skills requirements, and 73% of math essential skills requirements being met through standardized testing in 2019, according to the ODE.

Supporters of the bill assert that Covid-related disruptions have adversely impacted education and may hinder students’ ability to show proficiency in Essential Skills.

“We've had a year and a half now where kids haven't been in school, we've had a year and a half where they haven't been practicing their algebra, practicing their math, their reading skills, looking at science,” stated state Senator Lew Frederick, a former educator himself. "Some of them have done very well. A lot of them have not."

Moreover, many believe that the Essential Skills proficiency requirement, as it currently exists, disadvantages students with poor test-taking ability, students for whom English isn’t their first language, and students from minority backgrounds.

“Under the best of circumstances, in totally normal times with no pandemic, there are a number of children who don’t test well," stated Rashelle Chase, founder of Portland-based social justice and education advocacy organization Mxm bloc. “[It’s] not a deficit on the part of those children.”

Conversely, opponents of the bill fear that suspending the Essential Skills proficiency requirement may reduce the standards of education in Oregon and harm those students whose learning has already been affected by Covid.

“No child will be better educated by turning their high school diploma into a participation trophy. Yet, Senate Bill 744 does exactly that,” stated Oregon Senate Republican leader Fred Girod. “In fact, it’s hard to imagine a more insulting and destructive policy for students of color than the insistence they need not be literate or do math. That is what George W. Bush called the ‘soft-bigotry of low-expectations.’”

The Wall Street Journal editorial board agreed, stating that, “it is particularly cruel for the minority students who will pay the highest price when the real world confirms that their high schools have defrauded them of a real education.”

It’s worth noting, in any case, that the educational outcomes for Oregon’s minority students do indeed lag far behind those of their non-minority counterparts. In the spring of 2019, only 35% of Latino and 30% of Black students were proficient in reading and writing on state exams, compared to 58% of white students. Proficiency in Math was even lower, with only 24% of Latino students and 17% of Black students meeting the benchmark. Closing the achievement gap between the white and minority students has long been a priority of the director of the ODE Colt Gill.

Proponents of SB744, however, would argue that fears the bill would lower education standards, particularly for minority students, are unwarranted, given credit requirements and the expectation that Oregon’s schools teach Essential Skills remain in place.

“The fact that we make something easier does not mean it’s less educationally valid, and the fact that something is more difficult for a student doesn’t mean they’ve demonstrated better learning,” state Representative and former Reynolds High School teacher Zack Hudson stated.

Supporters also point to the fact that the majority of states lack non-course requirements for graduation, meaning that Oregon will hardly be alone in this regard over the next three years.