Newberg-Dundee Students ‘Do Okay’ on State Testing Scores

NEWBERG, Ore. — The Newberg-Dundee School District reviewed state testing scores and trends across its student population this year — from elementary through high school juniors — including students with differing ability levels and historically underserved backgrounds.

At the Nov. 18 regular school board meeting, Teaching and Learning Director of Secondary Education Holly Miele presented Oregon Statewide Assessment System (OSAS) results from local students.

OSAS testing measures how well students are learning Oregon’s content standards. Miele’s presentation provided an overview of district- and school-level OSAS performance, trends, and growth through the 2024-25 school year.

At first glance, some local scores appear low compared to statewide numbers — but are actually above average among comparable districts.

“To be totally blunt, we are so proud of what we have to share tonight: We see some challenges and some hurdles, and we see some systematic changes that we’re excited to make,” Miele said. “But we’re doing okay, and sometimes okay is exactly where you’re at.”

Many of the local scores fall in the 40th–50th percentiles, but sit above the median for the district’s comparison cohort.

“Above all, we don’t want anyone thinking that when we see proficiencies that are close to 50%, close to 40% and under, that is a gut punch for all of us,” Miele said. “We would love to see those being the 80s at the minimum, but that’s not our reality. But I hope that you see by the other districts in our comparables, we’re actually doing really well compared to them, and we strive to do better every single year.”

Miele said her presentation had three objectives: celebrate the results and teachers’ efforts; review the data; and highlight programming designed to continue filling gaps.

“We want to wrestle with the data, and there are some wrestling points for sure,” she said. “To be blunt again, there are always going to be gaps and we know that, so we have good work ahead of us.”

OSAS Score Overview

Compared to a cohort of 33 similar school districts — including Astoria and Baker City — Newberg-Dundee students scored above median levels.

Local students improved this year in grades three, five, six, and eight. Scores declined in grades four and seven.

Third-grade students ranked No. 1 among the comparison group.

“We’re also No. 1 in seventh-grade math and eighth-grade math,” Miele said. “There’s a very real reason I believe that exists … that is not only again the hard work of our teachers, but our teachers willing to do what it takes for our students to be ready for this type of assessment, and I see that coming through clearly in our math scores.”

Local English scores have remained steady over the past decade.

“You’re not seeing a massive shift in our numbers, and that gives us a lot of hope because we have really specific things we’re going to be putting into place and have already started to do,” Miele said. “Historically, we’re bumping along, and we know that with some strategic moves we could help unlock some success for our students — and that’s what we intend to do.”

Only 22 elementary students opted out of OSAS testing this year. In middle schools, 51 students opted out.

“That speaks to the work of our elementary principals meeting with families and talking about why this assessment is really important,” Miele said.

For high school, only 11th graders take OSAS, and 83 of about 300 opted out — some high-achieving students who chose to focus on AP exams and SATs, Miele said.

“We understand, but we have to work on communicating the value of seeing them in our data set to really see the full progress of our whole class for 11th grade,” she said.

With some cohorts as small as eight students, she added, data can be difficult to interpret — especially when students move in and out of the district.

Focal Group Scores

Data is also tracked for students with disabilities.

“(Of the) kids who are having a difficult time navigating accessing regular education, we still have plenty of kids who are exceeding proficiency — and I think that deserves a serious shoutout,” Miele said. “We are clearly working on identifying what ways we create accessibility within our classrooms.”

Miele also highlighted progress and challenges for students from Hispanic, Latino and multiracial historically underserved backgrounds.

“It is again a massive gut punch … if we were to compare the state averages with any of these focal groups … where we see buckets of terrible frustration and gut punch, we also see growth,” she said. “Specifically, when you look forward to what is happening in our elementary years — shoutout to our elementary teachers who are managing all core subjects, test preparation, and becoming good little humans who can stand in line and wait their turn — they are laying a foundation of success. You can see it, and that is tangible growth.”

Miele emphasized that the goal is not simply to produce strong test-takers.

“Our kids will show you at their winter gala how they are phenomenal musicians; our kids in ‘The Wizard of Oz’ will show you that they can memorize 120 pages of lines and not miss a single thing; our kids will be the sweetest kids having the best time in our unified PE classes,” she said. “That’s what means everything to us.”

Future improvement plans include increasing interim assessments; partnering with the teachers’ union; and strengthening universal design for learning, including language support, student choice, and multiple methods of engagement and expression, Miele said.

“The state does recognize the importance of putting a challenging academic piece in front of a kid and seeing what skill set you have, what skill set you are missing, what do we need to put into our academic programming?” she said. “We take that very seriously as well … we are talking about improving everything for all students.”

School board members said they appreciated Miele’s use of state data to guide goals, while also showing that test scores are only one measure.

“What you’ve given us tonight is an exemplary use of what we want from OSAS data … I really appreciate the breakdown by focal groups,” Board Director Andy Byerley said. “We’re looking at more than just an overall proficiency rate … we can get so much more data than just overall achievement, so I’m really happy that we’re diving in, interrogating the data, and then taking actions and making that happen for our students.”