Oregon education challenges are so persistently and pervasively challenged that we need to go deeper and consider some immediate and impactful mindset and culture shifts we can make in our own locus of control as community members who care about and want to steward public education. When I say culture, I mean the everyday norms and ways of showing up that we all accept and expect.

Opt-out culture shows up in and around Oregon in education in a few ways:

1. Opt-out of standardized State tests (the focus of this article)

2. Opt-out of showing up (e.g., attending school regularly for students, attending school for educators, working in person as State education agency leaders helping schools)

3. Opt-out of traditional schools in favor of online schools, etc.

“Take the test.”
“Don’t take the test. You do you.”

Personally, I’ve thought of taking standardized tests a bit like going to work. No one really wants to do it, and they are not representative of all that we know and can do, but there is some value in both. Regardless of whether any individual student, parent/caregiver, educator, or State policymaker thinks that annual State standardized tests capture K-12 students’ knowledge and learning well, test scores shape perceptions of school quality especially when federal and State systems of accountability are designed to heavily rely on them. Test scores provide snapshot data about how well the statewide public K-12 system is ensuring that students are learning at grade level to meet statewide goals and spot inequities. This makes it possible for the media, State policymakers, school board members, and others to compare schools and states as a tool for accountability. So, while tests are far from perfect in their ability to capture the fullness of what students know, whether students take them and take them seriously matters.

Two related obstacles are working against this aim- Oregon culture around State standardized tests and a 2015 State policy. In 2015, the Oregon Legislature made it optional for students to take State annual standardized tests that measure students’ proficiency in meeting State standards for literacy, math, and science. But that same year, the federal government passed a conflicting law (Every Student Succeeds Act), requiring all states and all districts to ensure 95% of all students and all student groups take standardized tests, subject to penalty. Further, the incoherence worsened when a new 2025 law – the Education Accountability Act - makes these same tests a basis for directing State funding for individual school districts starting in 2030. If a measure for State accountability for schools is optional for students and families to participate in, how reliable and valid of an accountability measure is it? These messages to the public coexist:

• The 2015 State law says, “State standardized tests are culturally irrelevant, take them or don’t. You do you!”

• The 2025 State law says, “Tests are so important to measure performance towards goals that the State will direct district money if students do not meet targets. Take the test!”

Oregon is in the minority of states that allow State standardized proficiency assessments to be optional. Thanks to policy and culture, Oregon has lower student participation rates in these tests (62%-94% depending on grade and student group) than most other states (95%). Oregon is often excluded from national research as a result, including from annual national scorecards released by leading education researchers at Harvard and Stanford Universities.

Source: Oregon Department of Education. Measures of interim progress (2024-2025). Retrieved May 20, 2026.

Overall, statewide participation trends indicate a cultural disconnect: some parts of the public currently see limited value in participating in the same assessments that the State has required as a necessary component to hold schools accountable to meet statewide goals. Stories of students cruising the tests and guessing abound, sometimes with the support of educators who share skepticism of these tests having value. Since some populations tend to opt out at higher statewide rates (White students, students experiencing poverty, students experiencing disability) than others (English Learners and Underserved Student groups), these patterns do not set the system of accountability up for success. Further, this recipe does little to help the State identify where schools are reliably knocking it out of the park due to low participation across the board.

Flipping the script means shifting culture to opt in

Culture can be shaped by effective statewide and local leadership. A vacuum of leadership contributes to “you do you” culture (i.e., local control on an individual level).

Culture can also be shaped by transparent and clear information or lack of it. Informed choice with clear, coherent, and transparent information can help.

To implement the 2015 opt-out law, the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) developed a form for school districts to distribute to families. The form communicates the bare minimum required in that State law. It excludes information that would provide for better informed choice like:

• Why tests matter for federal and State systems of accountability and what scores mean and don’t mean.

• 95% of students must participate in State annual standardized tests starting in grades three through grade eight according to federal law since 2015.

• State annual tests are designed to let educators and State policymakers know how well students are doing in meeting the State’s proficiency goals and standards. They provide the only comparable-by-school insight in the State’s new accountability system that measures proficiency. While the State also now requires school districts to use interim benchmark assessments, the State enabled districts to choose among different assessments so this new requirement will not provide cross-state comparisons and only limited cross-district comparisons.

• Oregon is an outlier with low participation compared to other states on State annual tests.

• Educators can use test data to improve instruction on specific standards where student achievement data among various groups shows patterns of shared struggle with concepts.

• Test results being provided to schools and districts is somewhat up to ODE- quicker results can improve relevance for students, families, and educators.

Actions to restore opt in culture and improve coherence in accountability systems

This is not an article about how standardized tests are the be all, end all.

More students opting in to take annual State tests will not equate more learning alone.

Standardized tests have been long-subject to fair critiques about bias, but even leading education civil rights organizations support the value of standardized tests to identify inequities in access to excellent education. Still, many might have reasonable questions about the efficacy and relevance of third grade students who are learning English taking English Language Arts proficiency tests at higher rates (98%) than students on average across Oregon (94%).

The point here is that whether any of us like it or not, standardized State tests are the tool that the federal and State governments have baked into systems of accountability to judge how well schools are doing to teach students grade-level concepts. And starting in the 2030-31 school year, ODE will have the ability to direct school district funding in part based on test scores. While many educators and district leaders point to interim assessments as a better marker of individual student growth compared to annual tests, what would it look like to shift culture towards a “both/and” approach rather than “either/or?”

Since standardized annual tests are here to stay until local and State education leaders create something better, can we opt in to make them more relevant, meaningful, and communicate their purpose in the system of accountability we have now?

Toward this provocation, here are a few actions that local school district leaders and State leaders can make, along with shifts we can all make today.

1. Local school district leaders, State Legislators & Superintendent of Public Instruction: Reconcile mixed messages to the public about the role of State annual tests in the State’s own accountability system for schools. For example, encourage students to show what they know on the tests. Share public messages about the role that standardized tests play. For instance, educators can use standardized test data to improve instruction. Parents and students can understand where students are excelling to meet grade level standards and where they need help. The State needs valid and reliable data to ensure equitable access for students in every school and zip code for accountability and to direct extra resources and support to schools.
   

2. Oregon Legislature: Eliminate opt-out ability for assessments that are tied to the Education Accountability Act or federal accountability (e.g., third grade literacy and eighth grade math).
   

3. State Board of Education:

   1. Direct ODE to update its report cards to include opt-out rates. Currently, this information is omitted from the report cards.

   2. Create administrative rules requiring any ODE reports to the Legislature regarding Education Accountability Act implementation to include data on participation rates and opt-out rates for all assessments under the opt-out law compared to the federal requirement of 95%.
      

4. Superintendent of Public Instruction (Governor):

   1. Convene a cross-education ecosystem coordinating body of practitioners for thought partnership to consider options for improving the relevance, timeliness, reliability, and validity of test result data amidst the cultural disconnects. Leverage the expertise of this group to plan for how to provide consistent, effective, and urgent improvement capacity to schools across the state to improve student proficiency, regardless of the measure. The education ecosystem includes educators in K-12 schools; education service districts; tribal nations; community-based youth serving organizations; industry, post-secondary, and preschool settings. Consider also including a bipartisan group of legislative education leaders.

   2. Direct ODE to develop a family-friendly communication tool that provides context for “the why” standardized testing participation matters for understanding student proficiency statewide (example from New Hampshire).

   3. Direct ODE to provide professional development to teachers and school leaders regarding how State standardized test data can be used to improve instruction. In a recent set of interviews with educators around the state, it’s clear that some are unaware of how State tests can be used for improvement whereas others have received training to do exactly that.

5. Students and parents: As noted earlier, State annual standardized tests are not a perfect measure of proficiency. However, they are the only measure that provides comparable data across schools. They cause anxiety and stress and, for some, they’re a no-go. But what would it look like to begin to shift our mindset around these knowing that they are one important part that gives the State, school boards, and school district leaders a picture of what students know in each school and across student groups? Ultimately, the statewide system must ensure every young person in every school in every zip code has an opportunity to achieve at high levels. We only have one way to know how well that’s going right now and if students don’t take the test or don’t take it seriously, the State’s ability to use accountability as a tool for improvement is undermined.

1. A bold, attainable vision in which Oregon is a national leader in ten years- where young people are thriving in school and in life, equipped for their future with an excellent public education. In which they are surrounded and supported by thriving school communities, who themselves are prepared and supported by thriving systems.

2. A statewide, systemwide plan of action that gets us there. That leaves little to chance for every student in every zip code regardless of their identity to experience an excellent education. That improves the odds structurally and systemically to promote excellence with consistent high expectations and consistent high-quality support.

3. Real talk about how we got here- where Oregon spends more than most states per student but gets worse outcomes. Honest reflection is needed to connect the dots from our past and current our strengths to our future opportunities. Has Oregon public policy and practice been trying to intervene our way out of systemic disconnects that are more about core instruction? Has our culture of opt-out, choose-your-own adventure run its course? Do we have a shared understanding of what future-focused teaching and learning looks like to prepare students for a rapidly changing world?

To take on all the above, we will need to shift culture, practice, policy, and governance. At the State and local levels. Paraphrasing Maya Angelou, when we know better, we can do better. We can stop the cycle of one-off solutions, new bills, new budget lines, and new initiatives that create more Lego pieces that land on the floor of a classroom with students and educators. Those who advocated for these Lego pieces - be it the Student Success Act, High School Success, Early Literacy Success, Student Success plans , etc. - fought hard to make the case for them. But no one has taken the time to put these pieces together in a way that is coherent and makes sense. And young people are losing all across the state at a high cost.

It will not be easy or a quick fix to create coherent systems that make sense for the excellence and wellbeing we seek. Culturally, what we do in Oregon is fix with short-term advocacy agendas, one-off bills, Executive Orders, or new funding alone. These may be well intended but have minimal or harmful impacts without the principles of good governance – detailed in this report- guiding a cohesive, strategic, long-term vision connected to our current context. If we think we are fixing one thing, chances are that our lack of understanding of the number of factors that shape our education system won’t allow us to connect the dots between intention and impact. For example, the Oregon Department of Education has been charged with administering 126 grant programs - State and federal - resulting in 93 different points of contact, 250 narrative questions, and nearly 50 ways local leaders submit data to the same agency. The agency has been consolidating as directed by the Legislature, but grant programs grow every legislative session adding more grants to respond to the asks of many. We can reflect and improve without staying stuck in blame games. Young people need us to share knowledge, learn, and accelerate progress- at scale, at speed.

Amidst the burnout, frustration, and uncertainty, we should double-down on good governance as one crucial lever to improve the odds for students to thrive. Be more interested in root causes paired with short-, mid-, and long-term actions, rather than the “flavor of the month” paired with quick fixes. Celebrate students beating the odds in communities across the state everyday while also asking how might we fundamentally redesign the system to improve the odds for every student in every zip code to thrive. Be clear about our own roles related to that vision, and about what we need from others to do our part.

Improving the Odds Playbook – a 2027-2037 system improvement plan for Oregon education

I founded a two-year project to catalyze these conversations – the Oregon Network for Education Excellence (ONE). This work bridges existing networks of educators, advocates, education and community leaders, and State and local education policymakers to add capacity to tackle challenges which we have collectively kicked down the road for too long. We are down the road now. I hear a lot from educators and leaders across the state that we need a playbook to protect and improve public education. A playbook that reflects a statewide and systemwide vision and plan developed from the ground-up, in partnership with those responsible for implementing it at the local and State levels and with students, educators, and families it impacts. Our first report is the first in a series of publications to demystify Oregon’s education system to start the conversation. Crucially, these publications are intended to spark a set of collective recommendations and plays for our collective playbook to improve the odds for every student in every zip code to thrive – with a role for local and State leaders, starting now.

About me:

Pooja Bhatt (M.P.P.) is an education policy expert who served two Governors and a statewide ecosystem of education and early childhood partners as an advisor with over 20 years of experience. She has supported educators, community organizations and coalitions, state and local public agencies, school and education service districts, philanthropy, unions, and national nonprofits with a wide range of topics including labor-management relations, community engagement, education finance, and education assessment and accountability systems.

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