How Did Oregon Begin the Development of a PK-16 System?

State level policies support school improvement.

LADDER represents the second stage in building a PK-16 system. Our 1994-97 FIPSE project entitled PASS, addressed the first stage by developing college entry standards and aligning these with Oregon’s K-12 standards for high school completion. This first stage FIPSE project played a critical role in our state during a decade of pioneering legislative initiatives that resulted in the vision that all Oregon students can reach higher standards. The Oregon Educational Act for the 21st Century of 1991, (revised in 1995) mandated a comprehensive system of standards and assessments benchmarked at grades 3, 5, 8 and 10. Students earn Certificates of Initial and Advanced Mastery (CIM and CAM) by demonstrating proficiency on state tests and classroom performance assessments that are aligned with these standards and benchmarks.

Standards for college entry were developed and aligned with PK-12 standards.

In 1993 the Oregon State Board of Higher Education adopted a policy to develop a proficiency-based admission standards system for entry into the state’s seven public universities in response to the K-12 standards. In 1994 the first stage FIPSE project supported the development of these proficiency-based admission standards (PASS) through extensive work with high school teachers, community college faculty and OUS faculty on four campuses. The result of the collective wisdom of this group was the production of PASS standards and criteria in six content areas. This framework of “what students should know and be able to do” for college entry was subsequently reviewed throughout the state and adopted in 1995 by the State Board of Higher Education. That same year the State Legislature mandated that the global PK-12 CIM “outcomes” be more specifically articulated as standards in the same six content areas as PASS. This presented OUS with the opportunity to fully align PASS with the PK-12 standards and an extension of our FIPSE project was granted through October 1998 to accomplish this work. The Joint Boards, comprised of the Oregon Board of Education (preschool, PK-12, community colleges) and the Oregon State Board of Higher Education (public universities) adopted this alignment of standards in March 1998, and have pledged to collaborate in the implementation of CIM, CAM, PASS.

A methodology for teacher judgment of student proficiency was developed.

Our first stage FIPSE project also supported the initial development of teacher judgment, a PASS assessment methodology. Teachers from four high schools piloted the use of collections of classroom-based assessments to verify student proficiency in the PASS standards. This methodology has been refined and extensively field tested in 1998-2000 in 65 high schools throughout the state indicating that an acceptable level of comparability in ratings had been achieved. During the first stage FIPSE project period of 1994-97, the only state assessment requirement for PK-12 was in the area of writing. Presently, performance assessments in writing, math problem-solving, and scientific inquiry are being implemented in the PK-12 system. Multiple choice tests in reading, math, science content knowledge are also in place.
Because state assessments are linked to PK-12 standards and these standards are aligned with PASS, we currently have the opportunity to take on the second stage of alignment. LADDER PK-16 proposes that this second stage be focused on linking high school assessment data to the college admissions process and subsequent class placement decisions.

Improvements in teaching and student learning have been reported.

Throughout our first stage FIPSE project and during subsequent years, we have realized two significant findings from our extensive evaluation of PASS activities: (1) Comprehensive teacher training in the PASS standards and criteria and construct for teacher judgment changes the focus for learning in the high school classroom. This was affirmed in a recent article in the New York Times addressing “The Learning Gap” between what high schools require and what colleges want. PASS high school teachers in English and science explained how “there is a difference between teaching to a book and teaching to a standard” (Arenson, 2000). For example, in PASS classrooms the focus is on student proficiency in literary analysis or scientific inquiry as opposed to completion of a seat time requirement. (2) Students in PASS classrooms report substantial differences in the teaching/ learning experience than in Non-PASS classrooms. They report a deeper understanding of subject matter, greater level of engagement and the ability to apply knowledge and skills to new situations. Students also express the belief that they are developing the knowledge and skills necessary to meet high school standards as well as college entry requirements (Paule, 1996-2001).

As noted previously, Oregon’s PASS standards for college entry connect directly to the Oregon K-12 content standards that are now embedded in the high school curriculum as a focus for the improvement of all students’ learning. Based upon research by Adelman (1999) regarding the positive correlation of high school curricular content and design with student retention in college, we anticipate that the use of aligned PK-16 standards and the addition of aligned assessments will increase access to college for underrepresented populations and first generation college attendees.