How Oregon schools handled Covid-19

In March 2020, the school system of Oregon was forever changed. The spread of Covid-19 was a historic event that forced the shutdown of entire school districts and made conservative teachers switch up their teaching techniques to fit Covid-19 restrictions.

All classes were moved from in-person at school to online, which damaged the mental health of both the students and teachers. During the height of the pandemic, teachers suffered from unprecedented levels of burnout and health concerns during the unusual pandemic times.

Nearly 93 percent of students were being taught online in 2020, which means the negative effects of being quarantined were felt worldwide by students of all grades.

The mental health of students deteriorated due to less face-to-face time in the real world. Students made the switch from in-school to online learning due to a decreased interest in school, a lack of motivation, and being left without a proper introduction to the grade in which they were enrolled.

During the pre-pandemic school years of 2018-2019, proficiency rates among all students in Oregon didn’t paint the picture of a slow decline before the pandemic, until the 2021-2022 school year, once schools began to switch to in-person teaching. The 2021-2022 school year proficiency percentages in math, science, and english language arts showed that the gap between 2018-2021 was a rough time for all students. School district proficiency percentages showed stagnant (no more or less than a three percent difference), or a drastic fall off in percentages (10 percent lower proficiency score); however, some outlier school districts gained proficiency in no more than two subjects compared to pre-Covid years.

Clatskanie School District 6J had a math proficiency score of 23.4 percent among all grades in 2018-2019. Once the school reopened in 2021 Clatskanie improved to 26 percent in mathematics.

Overall, the school district improved in comprehending math, excluding Clatskanie 11th graders who dropped from 13 percent before Covid, to less than five in math proficiency, a return to 2017’s math proficiency. This drop off was short-lived and can be attributed to Covid, since 2021 Clatskanie’s math proficiency levels rose to 23.7 percent overall among grade levels, and 20.7 percent specifically for the junior class of 2021.

According to current CMHS Superintendent Danielle Hudson, math test scores historically remain below the state average. In the year 2025, Clatskanie’s gap score in math is lowering, which indicates that kids are learning the curriculum and applying it to future mathematical problems as the kids go up in grades.

While separate school districts outside of Clatskanie School District 6J had a downgrade in ELA proficiency, Clatskanie improved from 36.2 percent before Covid, to having their highest ELA proficiency scores after Covid. Their proficiency score of 47.8 percent in 2021 is their highest percentage since reopening their school doors.

In the aspect of science proficiency scores, Clatskanie is seeing a deteriorating performance in its proficiency percentages. Clatskanie had a massive jump in science comprehension scores in the school year of 2018, compared to 2021 (13.6 percent among all grades to 28.6 percent). Once Clatskanie’s doors reopened, their science proficiency numbers dropped from 28.6 percent in 2021 to 26.6 percent in 2022 and, in 2023, their science proficiency rate dropped to 19 percent.

In 2018, the attendance rate at CMHS was 87 percent, up 1.3 percent points over the previous year. The district has invested in programs such as school for credit retrieval and daily attendance monitoring to improve attendance. There are 689 students in Clatskanie School District 6J spread about the elementary school and middle/high school. The district's minority enrollment is 20 percent, and 44.8 percent of students are considered economically disadvantaged.

Pre-Covid, on average, 92.72 percent of students graduated from Clatskanie High School. Graduation rates reported by former Superintendent Cathy Hurowitz were on the rise from 70 percent in 2016 to 84 percent in 2019. Mrs. Hurowitz said the leading factors to students not graduating are the increased mental health needs, and a lack of family support, financial problems and access to resources.

Hurowitz’s rates were reported before Covid-19 fully killed the momentum of in-school learning. Every supposed problem within the mind of the former superintendent would soon be emphasized by the shut down of all school districts due to Covid -19. In the post-Covid year of 2025, Clatskanie attendance rate is at 87.95 percent; just a smidge off of Superintendent Danielle Hudson’s goal of bringing the graduation percentage to 90.

According to a Headlight Herald article from 2020, the superintendent, at the time, had plans of providing students with coping strategies to contribute to chronic absenteeism by providing long-term therapy and crisis response to boost students' morale. Hurowitz also looked into an after-school or Saturday school option to support academic readiness, as well as implementing Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) into Clatskanie School District 6J.

As of 2025, under new Superintendent Danielle Hudson, Clatskanie High School offers AVID classes for freshman through senior students to take. The school has a new curriculum and coursework that the district bought. Hopefully, teachers are ready to make the change from the old curriculum and textbooks.

Even though absence is still a predominant feature in post Covid era at CMHS, the school is focused on making strong changes, like setting an expectation of college career readiness opportunities, and internship work experience for future classes of students entering high school.

Ayden Emerson, Tristan Strand, and Marqueez Snyder are students at Clatskanie Middle/High School. Student submissions are welcome. Email submissions to kirk@waheagle.com for consideration.