The problem with education in Oregon

There was a great post by Oregon Roundup today about Oregon’s education system woes. Definitely worth a read.

As someone who has spent several years in the education business in Oregon as college/university faculty, it pains me to see how far Oregon has fallen. I was born and raised here and am myself a product of Oregon’s schools. I was lucky that (a) I enjoyed learning, (b) had wonderful teachers and mentors, and (c) felt the rigor was enough to have made me a well-educated person. But that was then.

The Oregon Roundup post reflects now.

My fellow native Oregonian journalist Nicholas Kristof recently also weighed in on this in an opinion piece published in the New York Times in February. As noted in the Oregon Roundup piece and Nick’s article, the South, long derided by West Coasters as backward, is getting the last laugh.

It is also worth adding that just a few days ago, Oregon’s Governor Tina Kotek issued an executive order ordering Oregon’s schools to stop cutting back instructional days in order to save money.

As we sink to the bottom in educational standards and outcomes in Oregon, it is beyond me why school districts would think the way to improve education is to simply cut back on it. This hurts not only students and their futures, but the future of the state, which is already in deep trouble in many ways. And so we languish out here in the West, including in our Portland Metro Area once hailed as a darling of the U.S. and progressive “it” place to be. But no more.

It’s time to take a serious look at what is working well elsewhere and start adopting and adapting ASAP, rather than making excuses for why those things can’t work in Oregon. The hole that has been created is a big enough challenge to dig out of without making excuses for why we can’t.

To quote my husband: “The first rule of holes: when you find yourself in one, stop digging.”

Hear, hear.