Superintendent Newsletter October 2026

Oregon recently released results from the state assessments our students took last spring in English Language Arts, mathematics, and science. These assessments are known as the Oregon Statewide Assessment System, or OSAS.

As I have reviewed our district, school, and grade level results, I continue to come back to one thought:

There is a lot to celebrate in this year's results. There are also areas where we know we need to improve.

Throughout this update, you will see the word proficient.

On the state assessment, a student is considered proficient when their score meets or exceeds Oregon's grade level standard in that subject.

For example, if 40% of students are proficient in 4th grade English Language Arts, that means 40% scored at or above the state's standard for what a 4th grade student should know and be able to do on that assessment.

Proficiency does not mean passing or failing a class. The state assessment is one measure of student learning. Grades, classroom work, teacher assessments, attendance, and our district reading and math assessments provide additional information about how a student is doing.

Districtwide science proficiency increased from 23.7% in spring 2025 to 30.2% in spring 2026, an increase of 6.5 percentage points. Oregon's proficiency rate was 30.6%, putting Coos Bay very close to the state average.

Our 5th grade proficiency increased from 18.4% ➡️ 22.5%.

Our 8th grade proficiency increased from 23.9% ➡️ 31.2%.

Our 11th grade proficiency increased from 33.6% ➡️ 37.8%.

Our 8th and 11th grade students also performed above the Oregon average in science.

We are seeing encouraging progress in English Language Arts (ELA) across our district! Overall proficiency rose from 35.1% in Spring 2025 to 36.1% in Spring 2026, with standout gains in 4th grade (up 10.1 percentage points to 40.8%) and 6th grade (up 8.6 percentage points to 35.1%).

Even more promising is how individual student groups (cohorts) are growing year over year:

Cohort Growth: Students who were 32.2% proficient as 3rd graders in 2025 reached 40.8% proficiency as 4th graders in 2026—an 8.6 percentage point leap in a single year.

Millicoma led the district with 44.8% ELA proficiency—surpassing the state average of 43.8%. Their 4th-grade group surged by 13.9 percentage points in one year!

Sunset saw progress across the board. Every cohort tracked from 3rd through 6th grade improved in both ELA and writing, with writing scores rising up to 9 percentage points.

While there is still work to do, our students are moving in the right direction. Moving forward, our focus is simple: study what is working in these classrooms and share those effective strategies district-wide so every student succeeds.

We want to be open with our families about where our district needs to grow. Right now, mathematics is our greatest academic challenge.

Last spring, 23.2% of Coos Bay students reached math proficiency, down slightly from 23.6% the prior year and trailing Oregon’s state average of 32.9%. 

While we see promising gains in certain classrooms, our goal is to ensure consistent growth across every grade and school.

Lighthouse delivered our strongest elementary math performance, highlighting a cohort jump from 45.8% to 52.2% proficiency.

As you review these numbers, remember that they reflect state tests taken last spring. The students who took them are already in their next grade:

Their learning didn't stop when the test ended. Instead, we use these insights to understand what worked, where learning gaps exist, and how to better serve each child today.

That is why our promise remains unchanged: knowing every student by name, strength, and need.

We still have work ahead, but our latest results give us every reason to believe in what our students can achieve.

These results aren't a finish line; they are evidence that our hard work is paying off. Moving forward, we will keep building on these successes while staying honest and focused on where we need to grow. Working together with our families and community, we know our students can reach even higher goals.

As Superintendent, I am committed to providing monthly opportunities for families and community members to connect, ask questions, share ideas, and learn more about what is happening in Coos Bay Public Schools. Throughout the year, I will continue hosting Town Hall meetings and Coffee with the Superintendent events at different locations across our community. 

I hope you will join us; your voice and partnership are important as we continue working together to make our schools the best they can be. 

As we move into October and settle into the rhythm of the school year, improving student attendance continues to be one of our most important priorities. During the first month of school, we have seen mixed attendance across our district. While many students are attending consistently, we also have students who are already beginning to accumulate absences. We are hopeful that our families will continue to partner with us to maximize the number of days our students are present, engaged, and learning at school.

Attendance is important at every grade level, but it is especially critical during the early elementary years. Regular attendance in kindergarten through second grade provides the foundation for future student success. These are the years when students are developing essential reading, mathematics, learning, and school-readiness skills that they will build upon throughout their education. By third grade, attendance and academic performance are especially important indicators of future success, with strong connections to later reading and mathematics achievement and the likelihood of graduating from high school.

Now that we are a month into the school year, it is a good time for families to take a look at their student's attendance. Missing just two days of school each month can add up to approximately 18 days over the course of a school year—enough to place a student at or near the level considered chronically absent. Whether an absence is excused or unexcused, the result is still missed instructional time. Those missed lessons become increasingly difficult to replace as learning builds from one day to the next.

Our goal is not simply to count absences. We want to partner with families to understand and address the barriers that may prevent students from attending regularly. Transportation, health, academic challenges, relationships, a sense of belonging, and other circumstances can all affect attendance. If your student is beginning to struggle with attendance, please reach out to your school early. The sooner we understand the challenge, the sooner we can work together to find solutions.

Our message remains simple: Every Student. Every Day. Each day at school is an opportunity to learn, connect, grow, and move one step closer to graduation and a successful future. Improving attendance takes all of us, and we appreciate our families working alongside our schools to maximize the number of days every student is present and ready to learn.

For families looking for additional information, strategies, and resources, the Oregon Department of Education provides attendance, belonging, and engagement supports for families and schools. Click below. 

Last month, I shared that Coos Bay Public Schools was beginning the process of developing a comprehensive five-year strategic plan. I am excited to share that this work is now officially underway.

This week, our Strategic Planning Team held its kickoff meeting with Studer Education and began the process of developing a plan that will help guide our district's priorities, decisions, and investments over the next five years.

Our work will focus on four key areas: 

Our Strategic Planning Team represents voices from across our schools and community, including a school board member, administrators, certified and classified staff, union leadership, parents, community members, and Marshfield High School students. Together, this group will review feedback, examine our current strengths and opportunities for improvement, and help establish a clear direction for the future of Coos Bay Public Schools.

One of the most important parts of this process begins this month with the launch of our Studer Education strategic planning surveys.

On October 2nd we launched three separate surveys asking students, parents/caregivers, and staff to share their perspectives 

All surveys are anonymous and are administered by Studer Education. Studer will collect and analyze the responses and bring the results back to our Strategic Planning Team. This will allow us to identify common themes and better understand what our students, families, staff, and community believe we are doing well and where we have opportunities to improve.

For families who participate in the parent/caregiver survey, there will also be an opportunity to enter a district-wide drawing for prizes.

This strategic plan will not be developed in isolation. Your voice matters. The feedback we receive through these surveys will be an important part of establishing our priorities and determining what we want our schools and district to look like five years from now.

We have much to be proud of in Coos Bay, and we also know that continuous improvement requires us to listen, learn, and remain focused on getting better. Our goal is to build upon the progress already underway while creating a clear vision and roadmap that keeps all of us moving in the same direction.

I am excited about where this process can take us and appreciate our students, families, staff, and community members for being partners in this work. Together, we can create a five-year plan that reflects the needs and aspirations of our community and, most importantly, helps us provide the best possible opportunities and outcomes for every student in Coos Bay Public Schools.