All Oregon schools are currently in the middle of the 2026 standardized testing window, which runs from February 3rd to June 12th. Ask most students what the purpose of these tests are, and many will not be able to give a clear answer.
Oregon Public Broadcasting outlines, “Oregon’s Statewide Assessment System (OSAS) consists of annual, mandatory summative tests–primarily the Smarter Balanced assessments–in English language arts and math for grades 3-8 and 11, plus science tests in grades 5, 8, and 11.”
When state testing is brought up, mixed words and emotions are expressed from everyone. Ms. Raschko, a math teacher at Wilsonville shares honestly, “Is it valid… no. Tool? It could be helpful.”
She continues, “The problem is, most kids don’t take it seriously. Also, the data that teachers are given doesn’t give us direction to help guide them better. It tells us this kid got a 2. Where did they get a 2? Why did they get a 2?”
According to the Oregon Statewide Assessment System (OSAS), “Test results provide students with feedback on whether they are meeting state requirements.” While this is important in theory, in practice, the scores students receive are too vague to better understand where and how kids need to improve.
Another concern facing the use of testing data is that often data is not received by the schools until after students have moved onto the next grade level. This could be a contributing factor to why students don’t take testing sessions more seriously. By the time they see their scores, the test is so far past that the information is already outdated and seems useless.
Raschko follows up by saying, “They think: ‘who cares if we don’t do well?’ It’s the same thing with teachers. If the entire junior class fails, we don’t know where to implement new things.”
If state testing is supposed to “serve as a standardized, objective measure of student mastery of state learning standards across districts and schools,” then why are the outcomes published too late for teachers, administrators, or students to really do anything about it?
It seems like these tests are measuring how well teachers and schools are doing overall, but have very little impact on the students themselves or the remainder of their school year.
When freshman Shelby Karr is asked what word comes to mind when she thinks of state testing, she replies, “Annoying.”
This feeling is unfortunately shared by many students who complain that the content on standardized tests is irrelevant to the class material they are learning. It seems like a “waste of time” if they don’t understand anything on the tests or if they learned it so long ago that it seems pointless.
Other disruptions caused by state testing include: interruption of class content, altered daily school schedules to accommodate mandatory test schedules, student pullouts to make up missed tests, and increased anxiety felt by the pressure to perform well.
Alternatives to standardized testing include regular school level testing, student work samples, portfolios that follow student testing, and speaking tests that assess student knowledge in real time.
All this to say, there is good intention behind state testing, but the approach to it and the outcomes do not make them as effective as they could be.