Oregon school districts have less than a year to prepare for a new state mandate requiring interim assessments in math and English language arts three times per year for every student in grades K-8. The 2025 Education Accountability Act, Senate Bill 141, was passed by the Oregon Legislature and took effect upon passage as an emergency measure. The interim testing requirements become operative on July 1, 2026, and first apply to the 2026-27 school year.
What the law requires
Under Section 24 of the bill, which amends Oregon Revised Statutes 329.485, each school district and public charter school must choose interim assessments from the Oregon State Board of Education's approved list. The tests must be administered at least three times per school year in both math and language arts for all students in kindergarten through eighth grade. District officials must review the resulting data at least three times annually with building administrators and during a public meeting that includes the superintendent and school board.
The approved test vendors
The State Board adopted the approved vendor list on February 19, 2026, about three weeks after a January 31 statutory deadline. The four vendors are iReady from Curriculum Associates, MAP Growth from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Star from Renaissance, and Smarter Balanced delivered through Cambium. The State Board selected them through an open, competitive Request for Qualifications process that prioritized technical quality, accessibility, alignment to Oregon standards, and equity. According to the Oregon School Boards Association, which reported on the process, no single vendor met all of the Oregon Department of Education's evaluation criteria.
The four tests differ in their features, according to ODE's implementation guidance. iReady and MAP Growth are computer-adaptive and cover kindergarten through grade 12, with testing times of 45 to 60 minutes. Star is also computer-adaptive across K-12 but takes 15 to 30 minutes. Smarter Balanced via Cambium is not computer-adaptive and covers only grades 3 through 12, with a testing time of 45 to 55 minutes. Districts that choose Smarter Balanced for grades 3 through 8 may use one of the other approved tests to cover kindergarten through grade 2.
Transition costs and timing
The Oregon Department of Education has identified $1 million in one-time funding to help districts make the switch. Money will be distributed by formula to eligible districts and charter schools. But the costs vary widely by vendor, contract terms, start-up fees, platform needs, and per-student fees. According to an Oregon School Boards Association report citing an ODE survey, roughly one-third of Oregon districts will need to change or add interim tests to comply with the approved list. The OSBA and education advocates have asked ODE to provide accommodations for districts that need to purchase new materials, modify technology systems, train staff, and align curriculum.
Districts that need to switch may continue using their current unapproved interim test during the 2026-27 school year for compliance purposes, but the new approved test or tests must be in place no later than August 30, 2027. ODE recommends allowing three to four months for professional learning, technology integration, and schedule alignment.
Performance growth targets and consequences
SB 141 establishes eight goal areas for statewide performance growth targets that districts must meet by the 2029-30 school year. The goals include on-time graduation rate, five-year completion rate, ninth-grade on-track rate, eighth-grade mathematics proficiency rate, third-grade reading proficiency rate, regular attendance rate for all K-12 students, regular early-grade attendance rate for kindergarten through second grade, and a local metric rate. For the local metric, each district selects one option from five State Board-adopted choices: 5th Grade Science Achievement, Academic Growth, Career and Workforce Readiness, Multilingual Proficiency, or Postsecondary Readiness.
The law establishes an escalating intervention system for districts that do not meet their performance growth targets. After two years of not meeting targets, a district must accept coaching from ODE. After three or more years, the district must participate in intensive coaching. After four or more years, ODE can direct up to 25 percent of a district's State School Fund allocation toward prescribed investments.