Eugene, Springfield schools see small test score growth across subjects, more test participation

Test scores in Eugene and Springfield school districts showed incremental increases this year, reflecting slow, uneven progress in the six years following the pandemic. 

The Oregon Department of Education released the test scores for the 2025-26 school year Thursday, Sept. 24.

Statewide, proficiency inched up by 1.4 percentage points in English language arts, 0.8 percentage points in math and 0.6 percentage points in science. 

The scores carry additional weight this year because of the launch of the 2025 School Accountability Act, which requires districts to meet set test-score goals for each year through 2030; districts that fail to hit their goals face increasing ODE involvement.

Among the three largest districts in Lane County, Eugene School District 4J maintained the highest proficiency percentages across all subjects, exceeding state averages. But Springfield showed the largest gains, raising the percentage of students proficient in math by 2.5 percentage points to 27.7% and raising its English language arts proficiency by 0.6 percentage points to 37.7%. 

Eugene School District 4J was the only district out of the three to raise its science scores, moving its proficiency up 3.3 percentage points to 36.6%. Springfield and Bethel school districts both saw science score declines.

While participation in state testing remains a challenge, Bethel and 4J significantly increased their middle school and 11th-grade participation rates. Higher participation, however, did not greatly improve 11th grade outcomes and in some cases, resulted in lower proficiency levels.

Successes and challenges

Charlene Williams, director of the Oregon Department of Education, was enthusiastic about Oregon’s small gains in a media webinar Tuesday, Sept. 22.

“Meaningful change doesn’t happen overnight, and yet and still, we need to act with urgency, we must keep our foot on the gas,” said Williams.

She credited the gains to an increase in districts with “high quality instructional materials,” statewide professional learning communities and state funding that has gone to professional development, tutoring and family engagement.

Locally, each district had its own strengths and weaknesses. 

Bethel saw large jumps in proficiency in seventh- and eighth-grade reading and math scores, while 4J and Springfield, conversely, saw their largest reading and math score gains at the elementary level. The bright spots were muted, however, when proficiency levels were averaged across grade levels due to losses in other grades.

Bethel communications director Alisha Dodds, Bethel’s communications director, credited the continued implementation of the district’s relatively new middle school math curriculum for the gains in seventh- and eighth-grade math scores.

“What these results tell us is that we need to accelerate the work, not abandon it,” Dodds wrote in a statement. “We believe in the direction we’re headed, and now we’re getting more precise about standards, instructional practices, student data and how quickly we respond when students aren’t learning.”

Sixth-graders, who were kindergarteners when COVID began, struggled across all districts, experiencing losses in math and reading scores from their fifth- to sixth-grade years. The cohort’s struggle with the state assessment is a continued trend from last year. Springfield Assistant Superintendent Brian Megart said the class’s rocky start cannot be the only factor that the district considers, however.

“We continue to examine the group’s performance over time and alongside assessments, attendance, student-group data, and other measures,” he said of last school year’s sixth-grade cohort. “Broader reviews help us better understand specific cohorts in relation to learning, transitions to different levels, and instructional needs.”

Participation gains

Oregon laws that allow families to opt out of state testing make it difficult for the state to hit the federally mandated 95% participation rate. Across all subjects and grades in 2026, an average of 88.1% of Oregon students participated, a small increase from last year.

Bethel increased its participation rate this year by 12.3 percentage points, reaching 90.3% of all students participating (an average across all subjects). Springfield participation grew slightly to 89.9%. 4J’s participation grew by 8.4 percentage points but still lagged behind the other two districts at 80%.

Bethel and 4J have struggled to get older students to participate in testing in past years. But this year, both saw improvements.

Bethel, for example, raised their 11th grade English language arts test participation by 45.7 percentage points to 81.2%, more than doubling the number of 11th graders who took the test compared to last year. 

Dodds said Bethel teachers and administrators were intentional about telling students about the purpose of the test and made opportunities for them to see their scores and set goals. They also had students take the math exam in their math class, instead of pulling students to take the test at a different point in the day. The test dates were also moved so that students in Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate courses could take the exam without it conflicting with end of year exams for their classes.

Eugene 4J nearly doubled its previous year’s 11th grade English language arts participation numbers as well.

Despite more participation from 11th graders, their proficiency in math and reading still trends lower than younger grades. In 4J, levels dropped by more than 6 percentage points this year.

“Despite higher participation, a relatively high number of opt-outs at the secondary level still heavily influences lower proficiency,” said 4J Superintendent Miriam Mickelson in a statement to Lookout. “Eleventh grade, ranging from 33% to 41%, still remains well below the 80% participation rate the state considers necessary for a statistically viable sample. The district will continue to use various strategies to reach higher participation as well as use refined interventions to help students who need assistance in specific areas.”

Dodds said the gap between eighth-grade testing and 11th-grade testing (students do not test in grades nine or 10) makes students out of practice by the time they reach 11th grade and gives teachers little data to work off of. In Bethel, Dodds said the introduction of interim assessments will help students be more test-ready.

“Instead of waiting until the 11th-grade state assessment to find out where students have gaps, we’ll have multiple touchpoints every year in reading and math,” she wrote. “That gives teachers much more timely information to adjust instruction, provide support and address gaps before they compound.”