COLUMBIA COUNTY, Fewer than one in three St. Helens students met the state standard in English last spring, and one in five did in math. Scappoose posted the county’s best numbers, but nearly half its students did not take the test at all. Those are the headline findings from the 2025-26 Oregon statewide assessment results, released Sept. 24 and published by district by the Oregon Department of Education.
The Tribune pulled the district files for all five Columbia County districts. Here is where each stands, with the change from 2024-25 in parentheses.
| District | ELA % proficient | Math % proficient | Participation % | Students tested (ELA) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Helens | 30.8 (+0.7) | 19.9 (0.0) | 82 | 1,188 |
| Scappoose | 51.4 (+0.7) | 39.6 (-0.3) | 55 | 1,213 |
| Rainier | 33.8 (+1.8) | 20.9 (+2.1) | 88 | 352 |
| Clatskanie | 36.3 (-0.9) | 19.2 (-5.4) | 87 | 369 |
| Vernonia | 45.1 (+13.1) | 19.4 (-0.8) | 84 | 266 |
| Oregon (all districts) | 43.6 (+1.0) | 32.7 (+1.5) | 261,302 |
Statewide, ODE reported gains of 0.8 points in English and 1.4 in math, the second straight year of increases. “These results give us reason to be encouraged, but also reinforce how much more there is to accomplish,” ODE Director Charlene Williams said in the release. The statewide rates in the table are the Tribune’s calculation from ODE’s district file; ODE’s release gives only the year-over-year change.
The Participation Problem
Oregon lets parents opt students out of state tests, and the results only count the students who sat for them. In Scappoose, 54.5 percent of eligible students took the English test and 53.2 percent took math. In 11th grade, where the test is the Smarter Balanced exam that colleges can use for placement, Scappoose tested 65 students in English, 32.7 percent of the class, and 62 in math. St. Helens tested 45.6 percent of its juniors. Rainier, Clatskanie and Vernonia all tested more than 80 percent of students overall and 60 percent or more of juniors.
That matters for reading the table. A district where half the students opt out is reporting on a self-selected half, and ODE’s own accountability rules treat participation below 95 percent as a flag. Scappoose’s overall rates have held steady for two years; whether the other half of its students would score the same is unknowable from this data.
District by District
- St. Helens: flat. English rose from 30.1 to 30.8 percent; math stayed at 19.9. Third grade math improved from 27.6 to 30.1. Eighth grade slipped in both subjects, to 21.1 percent in English and 15.3 in math. The district tested 1,188 students, 79 fewer than last year.
- Scappoose: the highest rates in the county and above the statewide average in both subjects. Third grade English jumped 7.7 points to 54.8 percent and eighth grade math rose 3.9 points to 38.3, gains the district highlighted in its Oct. 2 newsletter. Eleventh grade math fell from 19.4 to 8.1 percent, on 62 students tested.
- Rainier: up in both subjects, to 33.8 percent in English and 20.9 in math. Third grade English doubled, from 21.3 to 44 percent, and eighth grade English rose from 39.2 to 57.6. Eleventh grade English fell from 60 to 34.5 percent, on 29 students.
- Clatskanie: the county’s largest drop in math, from 24.6 to 19.2 percent, with eighth grade math at 12.1. Juniors went the other way: 73.8 percent proficient in English, the highest single-grade figure in the county, up from 53.6.
- Vernonia: the county’s largest gain in English, from 32 to 45.1 percent, driven by juniors going from 23.3 to 66.7 percent on 27 students. Math slipped to 19.4 percent, with eighth grade math falling from 23.5 to 9.5 percent on 42 students.
Small districts swing hard: a grade of 27 students moves 3.7 points per student. ODE suppresses results for groups under a reporting threshold, which is why some Vernonia prior-year cells read “less than 5 percent” rather than a number.
Proficiency means scoring at Level 3 or 4 on a four-level scale. Oregon has not required students to pass the test to graduate since 2021, and the Legislature has extended that pause through at least the class of 2029. Full results by school and student group are on ODE’s assessment reports page.