Coos Bay Public Schools reported mixed results in literacy skills during a special school board meeting on March 31, 2025. The latest assessment revealed that only 39.5% of students are currently reading at grade level, while 21.3% are close to meeting benchmarks, and 39.2% require strategic support.

The data indicates a slight improvement in overall student performance since the beginning of the year, with a 3% increase in students not meeting benchmarks. Reading fluency emerged as a critical area needing focused intervention across all grade levels. School officials emphasized that while students showed growth in reading accuracy and spelling, fluency remains the most heavily weighted factor impacting composite scores.

Third-grade students demonstrated gains in spelling and reading comprehension, yet their composite scores did not reflect this progress due to challenges in fluency. Fourth and fifth graders also showed improvements in reading accuracy, with fourth-grade scores rising from 50% to 80% at benchmark and fifth-grade scores increasing from 65% to 77%. However, fluency continues to be a priority for improvement.

The sixth-grade cohort saw an overall increase in composite scores, although fluency still posed challenges. The data also highlighted disparities among different student groups, with TAG students performing the highest, while special education students faced the most significant struggles.

Looking ahead, school officials are committed to enhancing reading fluency through targeted goals and collaborative efforts among grade-level teams. The focus on fluency aims to ensure that all students can achieve their literacy potential by the end of the academic year.