Oregon Public Broadcasting

The math skills of Oregon's 4th and 8th graders held steady over the last year -- according to a study released Wednesday. But, as Kristian Foden-Vencil reports, state educators aren't happy.

Fourth graders had scores lower than 26 other states in the National Math Assessment. By the eighth grade, they did a little better, with only 19 states showing higher scores.

Suzanne Smith, with the Oregon Department of Education, said while 8th grade math skills are on par with the national average, it's not good enough.

Suzanne Smith: "We're definitely in a process of reforming our math system overall. We know that we need to do more."

Two years ago, the state adopted new math standards -- to give students a deeper grasp of fundamentals, like fractions and long division.

That was meant to help them do better in high school. But says Smith, it takes time for those new standards to register in tests.

The assessment also looked at class size. Oregon had the second largest classes in the nation.