Author: kmelton@stand.org

Are we adjusting to meet the needs of our students in poverty and ensuring they get a good public education and graduate from high school? 

That’s the question that members of our Eugene chapter have been asking as they have watched the percentage of low income students in the area increase from 25% to 43% in just 15 years.

That means 4 of every 10 students in the district is living in poverty.  

Advocacy director Dana Hepper spends a lot of her time dissecting the policy and politics of education. She works with legislators, state leaders and our partner organizations.

But the former elementary school teacher loves the opportunity to return to the classroom and spend time with young people -- tomorrow's innovators, teachers and leaders.

Last week, Dana was a "celebrity reader" in third grade teacher Sam Leach's classroom at James John School in North Portland.

At De La Salle North Catholic High School in North Portland, two-thirds of the Advanced Placement Calculus Class is African American. But in Oregon that’s the exception not the norm.

Here’s a peek at the data revealed in last week's Oregonian article:

The Oregon Legislature approved Senate Bill 1581 just before adjourning the 2012 Legislative session tonight.

Senate Bill 1581 creates achievement compacts for K-12 schools and colleges. The compacts provide one measure of how our schools are performing and how they intend to improve. We know that one thing all successful districts are doing is setting clear measurable objectives around a small number of meaningful goals. Senate Bill 1581 helps Oregon schools engage in that kind of goal-setting. That's one reason Stand for Children supported this legislation.