Grants Pass School District 7 students made substantial gains in reading and math during the 2025–26 school year, with results that put the district ahead of Oregon’s statewide proficiency rates in both subjects. The strongest improvements came in third, fifth and seventh grades, giving local educators encouraging results at several points in a student’s path through school.
The scores reflect a year of progress for children across the district and several years of work by the people teaching them. Elementary teachers have been changing how reading and writing are taught, while staff at both elementary and middle schools have been using assessments during the year to identify students who need more help. District leaders say that work will continue as they turn greater attention to math.
Districtwide, 50.9% of students met the state standard in English language arts, up from 46.6% the year before. In math, proficiency rose from 31.9% to 36.1%. Oregon’s statewide rates were 43.8% in English language arts and 32.9% in math. Grants Pass gained more ground in a year than the state did in either subject.
The third-grade results were among the most striking. Just over half of those students met the English language arts standard, compared with a substantially smaller share the previous year. In math, nearly half met the standard. The increases were 13.9 percentage points in English language arts and 12 points in math, bringing the respective proficiency rates to 50.4% and 49.3%.
The gains followed students into later grades. Fifth-grade English language arts proficiency reached 57.1%, an increase of 9.4 points, while math proficiency rose 7.4 points to 37.5%. Seventh graders posted the largest reading gain among the three grades highlighted by the district: 14.1 points, bringing proficiency to 53.4%. Their math rate climbed 13.6 points to 44.1%.
Grants Pass students finished above their statewide peers in both subjects at each of those grade levels. The district’s seventh-grade math rate was 10.8 points higher than Oregon’s, while its fifth-grade English language arts rate was 10 points higher. The comparison shows that the district’s overall gains were accompanied by strong results within individual grades, rather than resting on a single districtwide figure.
Behind the reading gains is an effort that began about five years ago, when the district started training elementary teachers and educational assistants in the Science of Reading. Teachers are now in their third year of using a new kindergarten-through-fifth-grade reading and writing curriculum. The work has given schools a consistent approach to literacy instruction as students advance through elementary grades.
Teachers have also been checking progress more often. Interim and benchmark assessments taken during the school year allow them to see where students are having difficulty, provide additional support and adjust instruction. At the middle school level as well as in elementary classrooms, staff have been working to connect lessons, state standards and those assessments with what students are expected to know on the state tests.
“We know that when students can read, write, and comprehend at higher levels, those skills support their success across all subject areas,” said Susan Zottola, the district’s director of elementary education. “We are excited to see this progress reflected in our students’ results.”
Superintendent Tim Sweeney credited the improvement to teachers and staff working together over time and using student results to guide what happens in classrooms. The state scores measure students’ performance; they do not identify how much any particular change in curriculum or instruction contributed to the gains.
Math is the district’s next area of increased focus. Although Grants Pass improved faster than the state and exceeded the statewide math rate, a majority of its tested students have yet to meet Oregon’s math standard. Elementary educators are examining research-based teaching practices and strengthening their own mathematical knowledge while continuing to use student results to shape instruction.
“We are celebrating this progress, but we are not stopping here,” said Michele Napier, the district’s director of secondary education. “These results help us see where our students are growing and where we still have work to do. We will continue using that information to strengthen instruction and support student growth.”
Oregon tests students in English language arts and math annually from third through eighth grade and again in 11th grade. For Grants Pass, this year’s results show progress among children nearing the end of elementary school and those already in middle school, while giving teachers a clearer picture of where to concentrate their work in the year ahead.