The Philomath School District’s 2024-25 standardized test results paint a mixed picture of pandemic recovery with eighth-grade math scores jumping more than 10% while third-grade reading proficiency plummeted by double digits — a drop that has the attention of the administration.
Philomath Superintendent of Schools Susan Halliday points to both bright spots and areas of concern in this year’s data.
“Our third grade English language arts, which has been on a steady incline since before the pandemic, took a hit this year,” Halliday said. The third-grade assessment dropped 13.4% from the 2023-24 results, a decline the district is working to understand.
“Third grade is the first year that students are tested so we’re trying to figure out — is it third-grade test anxiety? Is it the level of kids academically? Is it test overload? Or what is it?” she said.
Conversely, eighth-grade math jumped 10.3% across the district, illustrating the uneven nature of pandemic recovery.
“From a statewide perspective, overall achievement remains below proficiency levels seen by students before the pandemic,” Halliday noted. “In some instances yes, in some instances no” for Philomath.
At the high school, juniors performed above state averages with 69.2% proficient in language arts, 46.4% in math and 71.4% in science.
The middle school showed 41.9% proficiency in language arts, 31.3% in math and 40.0% in science (eighth graders only). The language arts results prompt district review.
“We’re looking at that for sixth, seventh and eighth grade to see what’s the anomaly there,” Halliday said. “All of our other grade levels are above the state average.”
Philomath Elementary showed 53.0% proficiency in language arts, 45.1% in math and 41.4% in science. Kings Valley Charter School showed 34.7% proficiency in language arts and 22.9% in math for grades 3-8 and 11 combined, with 31.3% in science for grades 5, 8 and 11. Blodgett students in grades 3-4 combined came in at 50.0% in language arts and 30.8% in math.
Philomath Academy did not have enough students tested to report proficiency percentages.
Low participation rates, particularly among high school juniors, complicate the district’s ability to draw conclusions from the data. The tests are not mandatory, with students and families able to opt out, and are no longer a graduation requirement.
“That’s been gone for a while but there’s no hook to be able to say, ‘I need to participate,'” Halliday said. “The other thing for some of these students is it is at the same time, roughly, when they’re preparing for AP tests.”
She added that many students juggling coursework, community college classes or jobs see the assessment as one commitment too many. Another factor: Students don’t want to miss regular instruction time for tests that can take one or two days.
“Students have been pulled out of their regular classes to be able to participate in testing and they’re fearful of getting behind in their classwork,” she said.
The district encourages participation to help families understand that results matter from a systems perspective.
“The exciting thing for us is the state test information is kind of that autopsy that happens at the end of the year,” Halliday said. “It’s good because it talks to us about our systems more than it does about individual kids. And so the more participation we have, which has been a problem, the better it does to inform our systems.”
While state tests serve that diagnostic purpose, Halliday said she’s more excited about a potential shift in how student progress is measured.
“The excitement comes from the ability of the state wanting to take a look at the potential of utilizing district interim assessments, as opposed to just the state assessment, and that for us is something that we’ve used for years — being able to take a look at three times a year for all kids, K-8, what’s their gain?” Halliday said. “And we see some pretty significant gains there that aren’t necessarily projected here (in state assessments). So it gives us a chance to take a look at individual kids in a little bit of a different way.”
The district will continue using local data collection, which has produced informative benchmarks when comparing fall, winter and spring results.
“It’s just a different way of being able to look at it and being able to look at all kids,” Halliday said.
