ODE - About Us - Oregon Department of Education

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The Oregon Department of Education - About Us

Mission Statement

The Oregon Department of Education fosters excellence for every learner through innovation, collaboration, leadership, and service to our education partners.

Value Statements

At the Oregon Department of Education, we are guided by the following values:

Equity for Every Student
We strive to eliminate Oregon’s achievement gap. We expect every student will meet or exceed high standards and fulfill his or her potential in an adaptive environment of respect and skilled instruction.

High Quality Education
We support our education partners in delivering high quality curriculum and instruction, while fostering a love of learning and attending to the needs and wellness of the whole child. We accomplish this by promoting excellent teaching, effective leadership, and continuous improvement at all levels of the system.

Results Focused
We act with urgency and focus on equitable results because our work is important and the stakes are high. Our state and the public have entrusted us to be the stewards of our public resources for education, to be the definitive source of data about a school’s performance, and to intervene on behalf of Oregon’s students when improvement is needed.

Service
We know that excellent service to Oregon’s districts, schools, parents, youth, and communities is central to our work. We commit to timely, accurate, efficient, and reliable service.

Leadership
We lead by example and hold ourselves and our work to the highest standard. We champion our schools, safeguard our education system, promote best practice, and act as responsible stewards of our resources.

Teamwork
We work as a team, across units, to build strong relationships based on trust and seek positive impact in all of our interactions.

People Are Our Greatest Asset
We know diversity adds strength to our workforce. We seek to attract, develop, and retain the best talent in our organization. We cultivate and celebrate employees who exceed expectations, deliver results, demonstrate a can-do attitude, and foster collaboration.

Our Priorities: Our state’s education priorities include:

Graduating our students college and career ready
Closing the Achievement Gap
Teacher and administrator effectiveness
Increasing performance for all schools and districts
A strong, seamless education system from early childhood through higher education

Who We Are: The Oregon Department of Education (ODE) oversees the education of over 560,000 students in Oregon’s public K-12 education system. ODE is also in charge of public preschool programs, the state School for the Deaf, regional programs for children with disabilities, and education programs in Oregon youth corrections facilities.

The State Board: The Oregon State Board of Education sets educational policies and standards for Oregon's public school districts, education service districts, and community college districts. The State Board is comprised of seven members appointed by the Governor.

Our Role: ODE isn’t in the classroom directly providing services. Instead, we - and the State Board - focus on helping districts achieve both local and statewide goals and priorities through strategies such as:

Developing policies and standards
Providing accurate and timely data to inform instruction
Training teachers on how to use data effectively
Effectively administering numerous state and federal grants
Sharing and helping districts implement best practices

Our Schools: Oregon has over 1,200 public K-12 schools organized into 197 School Districts and 19 Education Service Districts. Over 100 of these schools are public charter schools. These schools and districts employ over 63,000 teachers, administrators, and other school and district staff.