OREGON
A8 — THE OBSERVER
THURSDAY, AUGUST 12, 2021
EDUCATION
Transparency issues surround graduation bill
cation by September 2022.
However, since Oregon
education offi cials have
long insisted they would
not impose new graduation
requirements on students
who have already begun
high school, new require-
By HILLARY BORRUD
The Oregonian
SALEM — For the next
fi ve years, an Oregon high
school diploma will be no
guarantee that the student
who earned it can read,
write or do math at a high
school level.
Gov. Kate Brown had
demurred earlier this
summer regarding whether
she supported the plan
passed by the Legislature to
drop the requirement that
students demonstrate they
have achieved those essen-
tial skills. But on July 14,
the governor signed Senate
Bill 744 into law.
Through a spokesperson,
the governor declined again
Friday, Aug. 6, to comment
on the law and why she sup-
ported suspending the profi -
ciency requirements.
Brown’s decision was
not public until recently,
because her offi ce did not
hold a signing ceremony
or issue a press release
and the fact that the gov-
ernor signed the bill was
not entered into the legisla-
tive database until July 29, a
departure from the normal
practice of updating the
public database the same
day a bill is signed.
The Oregonian asked
the governor’s offi ce when
Brown’s staff notifi ed the
Legislature that she had
signed the bill. Charles
Boyle, the governor’s
deputy communications
director, declined to answer.
Boyle wrote in an
emailed statement that
suspending the reading,
writing and math profi -
ments would not take eff ect
until the class of 2027 at the
very earliest. That means at
least fi ve more classes could
be expected to graduate
without needing to demon-
strate profi ciency in math
and writing.
Much of the criticism
of the graduation require-
ments was targeted at stan-
dardized tests. Yet Oregon,
unlike many other states,
did not require students to
pass a particular standard-
ized test or any test at all.
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Alex Wittwer/The Observer, File
Graduates of La Grande High School line up to receive their diplomas
during the school’s commencement ceremony in the gymnasium on
Saturday, June 5, 2021. For the next fi ve years, an Oregon high school
diploma will be no guarantee that the student who earned it can
read, write or do math at a high school level.
ciency requirements while
the state develops new
graduation standards will
benefi t “Oregon’s Black,
Latino, Latina, Latinx,
Indigenous, Asian, Pacifi c
Islander, Tribal, and stu-
dents of color.”
“Leaders from those
communities have advo-
cated time and again for
equitable graduation stan-
dards, along with expanded
learning opportunities and
supports,” Boyle wrote.
Lawmakers and the
governor did not pass any
major expansion of learning
opportunities or supports
for Black, Indigenous and
students of color during this
year’s legislative session.
The requirement that
students demonstrate
freshman- to sopho-
more-level skills in reading,
writing and, particularly,
math led many high schools
to create workshop-style
courses to help students
strengthen their skills and
create evidence of mastery.
Most of those courses have
been discontinued since
the skills requirement was
paused during the pandemic
before lawmakers killed it
entirely.
Democrats in the Leg-
islature overwhelmingly
supported ending the long-
time profi ciency require-
ment, while Republicans
criticized it as a lowering
of academic standards.
A couple of lawmakers
crossed party lines on the
votes.
Proponents said the
state needed to pause Ore-
gon’s high school gradua-
tion requirements, in place
since 2009 but already sus-
pended during the pan-
demic, until at least the
class of 2024 graduates
in order for leaders to
reexamine its graduation
requirements. Recommen-
dations for new standards
are due to the Legislature
and Oregon Board of Edu-
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