Only a fraction of Salem students are reading, writing and doing math at the level expected for their grade – and the numbers haven’t improved since the pandemic of 2020. Last week, the Oregon Department of Education released its annual look at student scores on state standardized tests. The numbers come from tests given in the spring and are intended to let the public and education leaders see how schools, districts and the state are performing. The state’s data is available here in hard-to-decipher spreadsheets. The Oregonian’s data team made a more friendly searchable table here if you’d like to see how your student’s school performed. Here’s what to know about Salem’s numbers. 1. Most kids are behind grade level Across schools and grades, most Salem students aren’t keeping pace with state expectations for what they should know. The district is Oregon’s second-largest, with about 38,000 students. In third grade, 24% of students were proficient in English and 25% in math. That’s compared to 39% of all Oregon third graders in English and 40% in math. “These results are sobering. And not only are we not on track, we are actively moving in the wrong direction,” Superintendent Andrea Castañeda of the Salem-Keizer School District said in an interview with Salem Reporter.  She is in her second year as district superintendent. Superintendent Andrea Castañeda helps a student with a math problem during summer school at Hoover Elementary on Thursday, July 27, 2023. (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) 2. Schools struggle to recover from Covid In both Salem and Oregon, a smaller share of students are proficient in reading skills and math than in 2019. The Covid pandemic had significant and far-reaching effects on students and schools. In Oregon, schools closed and classes moved online in most districts for over a year. Families dealt with lost jobs, evictions and illness, and educators generally saw that students who already struggled to get to school on time or stay on track suffered the biggest setbacks. State tests weren’t given in 2020, and few students took them in 2021. Data in 2022 showed students in Salem and across Oregon were performing much worse than pre-pandemic. The numbers have been mostly flat in the two years since. Pre-pandemic, in 2019, about 44% of district students tested proficient in English compared to 31% in the latest results. In math, 33% were proficient in 2019. That stands at 20% this year. First graders at Yoshikai Elementary School pick out books during a giveaway in December 2022. (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) 3. Test scores closely tied to school demographics There’s wide variation among Salem schools in the share of kids reading at grade level. In general, schools that have higher rates of student poverty and larger shares of students who are not native English speakers perform worse on tests. Those differences are apparent before kindergarten. Teachers test incoming students on how many letters and numbers they recognize – important skills for successful reading and math later on. Schools with lower “kindergarten readiness” scores almost always show a lower share of students proficient in reading and math. Among Salem elementary schools, Morningside, Kalapuya, Candalaria and Schirle posted the highest shares of students proficient in English, between 50% and 60%. Weddle, Scott, Four Corners, Scott, Mary Eyre and Hallman elementary schools all posted the lower numbers on the English test, with fewer than 15% of students at grade level. Morningside Elementary School on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024. The school has one of the highest shares of students proficient in English in Salem. (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) 4. High school scores less reliable Students take state tests just once in high school, as juniors. State law allows parents to opt their students out of testing. About one-fifth of Salem juniors skip the math test, and 15% skip the English test. That means the test results don’t give a good picture of the entire student body. Students who opt out focus on other tests they feel are more relevant, like Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate tests for high school credit, as well as standardized tests like the SAT and ACT that can be used in college admissions. The 2024 tests showed just one-third of the district’s juniors were proficient in English. Numbers ranged from 13% at Roberts High School to 90% at Early College High School. Students who score not proficient in high school will likely need remedial math or English classes if they continue on to college, state education officials said. Freshmen at West Salem High School get their schedules in the commons on first day for ninth graders, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024. (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) 5. Curriculum, better data among key Salem-Keizer focuses The superintendent said school officials are working to improve by adopting better curriculum over the next few years. Schools also are using a new, more frequent tests to check how students are doing. That will let teachers and principals better monitor where students are struggling and show trends across schools and grades to guide improvements. At the state level, funding for districts for early literacy programs are shoring up reading education from kindergarten to second grade. Local schools have used the money to pay experienced teachers to help with reading lessons and work directly with struggling kids. The results won’t show for several years Kindergarteners who benefit from the initial round of grants will take state tests for the first time in the spring of 2027. New literature textbooks for seventh graders stacked in the Stephens Middle School library on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024. (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) BONUS: Attendance matters Stagnant test scores in the wake of Covid go hand-in-hand with another piece of data concerning educators: low attendance. The share of students coming to school regularly in Salem-Keizer was 48% during the 2022-23 school year. It stood closer to 75% pre-pandemic. Updated numbers will be released in October. Several factors are driving the shift, educators say. Parents are more likely to keep kids home sick for even minor illnesses. Older students got out of the habit of going to school and are more likely to skip.  Everyone from Gov. Tina Kotek to classroom teachers has pointed to the importance of getting kids to school regularly so teachers can make progress helping them catch up. It’s why Kotek signed a proclamation encouraging school attendance, and school district leaders launched an “Attendance Matters” campaign in September. “If kids are not with us, they cannot learn from us. There is no escaping that basic fact,” Castañeda said. Contact reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241. A MOMENT MORE, PLEASE– If you found this story useful, consider subscribing to Salem Reporter if you don’t already. Work such as this, done by local professionals, depends on community support from subscribers. Please take a moment and sign up now – easy and secure: SUBSCRIBE. The post 5 takeaways: Salem-Keizer’s school scores appeared first on Salem Reporter.