Nation’s Report Card: Oregon, Washington test scores mostly down

By Rob Manning (OPB) and Natalie Pate (OPB)
Jan. 29, 2025 10:01 p.m. Updated: Jan. 29, 2025 11:41 p.m.

Results in the two states fell on three out of four exams, despite rising school spending levels.

Every two years, Americans get a snapshot of the health of the country’s schools. Education advocates hoped the 2024 scores would show a promising rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic. But the latest results, released Wednesday, instead show a sobering reality as reading and math skills continue to decline nationwide.

The “Nation’s Report Card” again shows the country’s schools continuing to fall short, with the Pacific Northwest largely following suit. In both Oregon and Washington, scores fell on three out of four tests, amid a national downward trend on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, tests.

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Oregon's standardized testing scores in 2017 continued to fall below expectations. Less than 50 percent of students who took the tests passed the math portion, with 53 percent passing the reading exam.

Oregon's standardized testing scores in 2017 continued to fall below expectations. Less than 50 percent of students who took the tests passed the math portion, with 53 percent passing the reading exam.

Rob Manning / OPB

The NAEP tests are different from state assessments required by the federal government for accountability purposes. State tests rely on participation from as many students as possible, but their results are difficult to compare across state lines. NAEP is a common test that assesses the performance of a representative sample of students in every state for the basis of a national comparison. NAEP has four exams that are watched most closely: reading and math, at the fourth and eighth grade levels.

Education advocates had hoped that after rough results in 2022, largely blamed on distance learning and other instructional disruptions, there would be a post-pandemic turnaround. But that’s not what the 2024 scores are showing.

Reading scores were flat or down across the country, without a single state showing an increase at either the fourth or eighth grade levels. Math scores were less uniformly bad.

Oregon’s mediocre results get worse

Of the four main measures, Oregon’s results declined in all but one.

The biggest drop was in fourth grade reading, which fell three points below 2022 levels. Oregon’s fourth grade reading scores were seven points below the national average, continuing a disparity dating back almost two decades.

Both reading and math scores for Oregon’s eighth graders fell by two points. The eighth grade math decrease continues a five-year trend of Oregon performing below the national average. In reading, the below-average trend dates back to the pandemic.

The one bright spot was in fourth grade math, which rose just one point. But the NAEP scores show Oregon’s fourth graders remain below the national average, as the assessment has shown for nearly 20 years.

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Averages should be taken with a grain of salt. The incremental changes in Oregon’s scores over the last two years are within the margin of error.

Trend similar, results better in Washington

While Washington’s recent trend — more falling than rising test results — is the same as Oregon’s, its overall scores are better than Oregon’s on each of the four main NAEP exams.

The biggest disparity is in fourth grade reading, with Washington’s average scores nine points above Oregon’s. While Oregon is below the national average on each of the tests, Washington is above.

Similar to Oregon and the nation as a whole, Washington schools haven’t shown the kind of rebound that advocates had hoped to see since the pandemic.

But state school officials are applauding the state’s results.

“I am proud that our students continue to outperform many of their peers across the nation,” Washington state Superintendent Chris Reykdal said in a written statement. “However, the overall results for the nation and Washington are not good enough.”

Not just about spending

The stagnant results come despite investments that outpace inflation in many states, including Oregon and Washington, according to an analysis by an education think tank based at Georgetown University. The Edunomics Lab’s analysis shows Oregon spending has gone up by 80% since 2013, while reading and math scores have fallen. School spending in Washington has gone up even more — by 110%, according to the Edunomics Lab — while test scores have decreased over the last decade.

The “return-on-investment” news wasn’t uniformly bad across the country. In a handful of states, such as Louisiana and Mississippi, modest spending increases led to achievement improvements between 2022 and 2024. However, even in the few states where scores improved recently, they’re still largely below the results in 2013.

The ongoing lackluster performance of the country’s schools is cause for alarm, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Education’s assessment governing board.

“Student academic achievement is the cornerstone of national success and security. This makes a lack of academic progress today a direct and urgent threat to our collective future,” assessment governing board member Patrick Kelly said in a statement.

Editor’s note: This story was updated to reflect the margin of error for state-level test results.

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