Oregon Public Broadcasting

The school-focused national newspaper, Education Week, gave Oregon one of the lowest grades of any state in the country on a technology assessment. Rob Manning reports.

Oregon’s “D” grade was based primarily on what policy requirements there are for teachers. The report looked at a half-dozen suggestions for staff, such as having minimum technology requirements for teachers and administrators. But Nick Jwayad, the Portland Public Schools’ technology director, says many districts, including Portland, set high demands. Jwayad says a picture of Oregon classrooms lacking in technology is not entirely accurate.

Jwade: “Even though the standards are not necessarily in place, districts, both here in the Portland metro area, and around the state, do have resources that are allocated to insure that every student and teacher has appropriate access.”

Oregon was not far off, in terms of access to computers. The report also penalized Oregon for not offering a “virtual school”.  However, Oregon does have an on-line charter school.