by Alex Baumhardt, Oregon Capital Chronicle
February 24, 2026
Nearly 30,000 Oregon students took advantage of literacy-focused summer school programs and most made learning gains in 2025, according to the Oregon Department of Education.
The findings, shared in a recent analysis from the agency, show that the $35 million per year in consistent funding for summer school that lawmakers enshrined in law last year is working, according to education officials. They were supposed to discuss the findings Tuesday in the Legislature’s Joint Subcommittee on Education, but the meeting was cut short due to scheduling changes.
“Continued investment in summer learning is not only justified; it is a proven, accountable strategy that delivers measurable returns for students, communities, and the state,” officials wrote in the analysis.
Districts were required to report measured learning outcomes, but how learning was measured was largely left to districts, some of whom reported standardized test scores or teacher and student feedback, along with credit recovery numbers. Improving outcome measures and tracking gains over time are among the education department’s priorities for improving the summer learning programs in the year ahead, according to the presentation officials had prepared for lawmakers.
Applications for funding for upcoming 2026 summer programs opened on February 20 and grantees will be announced in April.
More than 106 school districts in 30 of the state’s 36 counties received funding for programs in 2025, and many partnered with community groups to reach a broader range of students, according to the analysis. Of the nearly 30,000 students who participated in programs, more than half were elementary aged kids in kindergarten through 5th grade. Another 31% were in high school and 15% were middle schoolers. Many were English-language learners and most attend school in rural areas. Map courtesy of the Oregon Department of Education
“The big takeaway for us is, as the education department noted, the force-multiplier effect of those partnerships,” said Louis Wheatley, a spokesperson for the nonprofit Foundations for a Better Oregon.
The group was among those advocating for lawmakers to pass consistent summer school funding last year.
“This aligns what we see in tons of research on the power of partnerships with community-based organizations, particularly in rural regions,” Wheatley said.
Improving student literacy was the primary focus of all summer school programs, and 77% of schools reported that students maintained or improved their reading and writing skills, according to the report. Most of the high school programs focused on credit recovery, and 80% of high schoolers who participated earned credits needed to graduate, mostly in English Language Arts and Math.
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES. SUBSCRIBE
Oregon Capital Chronicle is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oregon Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Julia Shumway for questions: [email protected].