Hillsboro: State Test Results Trail Oregon in Reading, Math and Science as Gap Widens
- The share of Hillsboro School District students meeting state standards slipped in reading and science in 2025-26 and rose 0.1 point in math, while statewide averages climbed in all three subjects.
- ODE counts Levels 3 and 4 as proficient.
- That widening gap shows up in every subject.
The share of Hillsboro School District students meeting state standards slipped in reading and science in 2025-26 and rose 0.1 point in math, while statewide averages climbed in all three subjects. In English language arts, 38.8% of Hillsboro students tested at Level 3 or 4, compared with 43.8% statewide, according to results the Oregon Department of Education released Sept. 24.
ODE counts Levels 3 and 4 as proficient. Its ELA level guide describes Level 3 readers as students who “understand grade-level texts.” By that yardstick, Hillsboro was 1.9 points behind the state in ELA two years ago and is now 5.0 points behind, by our calculation.
Three years, three subjects
That widening gap shows up in every subject. The figures below come from ODE’s three-year trend file, which covers all tested grades. The last column is our calculation: the 2025-26 percentage minus the 2023-24 percentage, in percentage points.
| Students at Level 3 or 4 | 2023-24 | 2024-25 | 2025-26 | Change since 2023-24 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ELA, Hillsboro | 40.6% | 39.1% | 38.8% | -1.8 |
| ELA, Oregon | 42.5% | 43.0% | 43.8% | +1.3 |
| Math, Hillsboro | 29.0% | 29.4% | 29.5% | +0.5 |
| Math, Oregon | 31.0% | 31.5% | 32.9% | +1.9 |
| Science, Hillsboro | 25.8% | 26.5% | 25.5% | -0.3 |
| Science, Oregon | 29.3% | 30.0% | 30.6% | +1.3 |
Over the last year alone, Hillsboro moved down 0.3 points in ELA and 1.0 point in science and up 0.1 point in math. The state gained 0.8, 0.6 and 1.4 points, the same figures ODE gives in its release. In raw numbers, more Hillsboro students met the ELA standard, 3,630, up from 3,611, while the share of students who took the test rose from 92.8% to 94.3%.
Below the district totals, results were mixed by grade. Hillsboro’s ELA rate rose in grades 4, 5 and 7 and fell in grades 3, 6, 8 and 11, the trend file shows, with the biggest one-year drop in grade 8, from 36.9% to 33.8%. In math, it rose only in grades 5 and 7, though statewide math rose at every tested grade.
Juniors show the steepest two-year drop
Over two years, the largest decline came in grade 11. The share of Hillsboro juniors meeting the ELA standard fell from 46.3% in 2023-24 to 39.9% and then 37.3%, a 9.0-point drop over two years (our calculation). Statewide, 46.0% of juniors met the standard in 2025-26.
Junior math moved less, from 14.3% to 16.2% to 15.0%, against 22.9% statewide, according to the district math file. Participation moved more than the scores did, in percentage points. The share of Hillsboro juniors taking the ELA test jumped from 77.8% to 86.5%, and in math from 73.0% to 81.0%, above the state’s 76.2% and 73.1%.
Who takes the test affects these percentages. Under ODE’s inclusion rules, students who skip the test, including those whose parents opt them out, count as non-participants and are left out of the proficiency rate. With 13.5% of juniors untested in ELA and 19.0% in math, the grade 11 figures are less complete than those for grades 3 to 8, where ELA participation ran from 92.8% to 97.3%. The 2025-26 junior ELA rate covers 1,270 test takers, up from 1,157, and 471 of them met the standard, up from 455. ODE’s files do not show whether the added test takers changed the result.
How student groups compare
ODE’s district ELA file also breaks results out by student group. In 2025-26 ELA, 53.5% of Hillsboro’s White students and 57.0% of its Asian students reached Level 3 or 4, against 51.1% and 59.5% statewide in ODE’s state ELA file.
For Hispanic/Latino students the Hillsboro figure was 20.9%, compared with 27.5% statewide, and for students experiencing poverty it was 20.6%, compared with 27.0%. ODE defines that poverty group as students on SNAP or TANF, in foster care, experiencing homelessness or receiving migrant education services. Hispanic/Latino students made up 4,022 of Hillsboro’s 9,409 ELA test takers, or 42.7%, by our calculation.
For English learners, ODE lists Hillsboro’s ELA rate only as “< 5.0%.” Under its suppression rules, that means fewer than 5% reached Level 3 or 4, with counts withheld. The group covers current English learners only; students who left the program in the previous four years are not included in it. Statewide, 6.1% of English learners met the ELA standard. The ODE files do not give reasons for any of these gaps.
Neighbors, and the board’s next meeting
Nearby districts posted a range of ELA results in ODE’s district files: Beaverton 53.4%, Tigard-Tualatin 48.3% and Forest Grove 33.1%. In math, the three posted 43.7%, 37.3% and 22.0%, against Hillsboro’s 29.5%. ODE’s release says Portland, Beaverton and Salem-Keizer, the state’s three largest districts, improved in both ELA and math.
Closer to home, the Hillsboro school board’s Sept. 22 and Oct. 13 agendas list no item on the state test results, and the district news page reviewed Oct. 21 carried no statement on them. The board next meets Oct. 27, with a 5:15 p.m. work session and a 7 p.m. regular session at the District Administration Center, 3083 NE 49th Place. That agenda was not yet posted on the board meeting schedule as of Oct. 21.
At the Sept. 22 regular session, the agenda set aside five minutes for public comment, listed as “Audience Time.” Interpretation is available with 24 hours’ notice by calling the district’s Language Liaison team at 503-844-1429.
Top image: Illustrative image, 2010: an empty high school classroom in Florida (not a Hillsboro school). Photo: PCHS-NJROTC, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped).
