State Board of Education sets lower bar for Common Core tests

  • By Donna Gordon Blankinship, Associated Press
  • Wednesday, August 5, 2015 6:54pm
  • Local NewsNorthwest

SEATTLE — The State Board of Education decided Wednesday to set a score below the college-ready level as the Washington state graduation standard on the new Common Core tests.

The people creating the tests, which are also known as the Smarter Balanced exams, say a score of 3 or 4 means students are “college and career ready.”

The State Board of Education decided Wednesday afternoon to set a score in the middle of the 2 range — just above 2.5 — as the graduation level for the Common Core math and English tests in Washington.

The new English exam is replacing the state’s old writing and reading exams as a graduation requirement. Passing the new math test won’t be a graduation requirement for a few more years, but it will be an approved alternative for students who fail math end-of-course exams, which are required for graduation.

Board members had a long and complex debate before voting on the new graduation scores. Some of the discussion was around fairness. Other parts of the discussion were more technical, involving the difficulty of choosing the right scores and making sure everyone understood what the scores meant.

Staff members, with help from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, attempted to set the pass level at a place where about as many kids are expected to pass the exams as passed the state’s previous tests.

When the tests were given statewide for the first time this past spring, a large number of high school students skipped them. So state education officials had to use alternative methods for figuring out what score would mean students are proficient in the subject matter and deserve a diploma.

The data had other unknown problems, as well.

Ben Rarick, executive director of the state board, went as far as calling the data bizarre, and his comments were echoed by several board members.

“Our hope is that next year we will have better data so that we can relook at that (passing) cut score,” board member Isabel Munoz-Colon said. She said the long-term goal of the board is to help students be ready to reach a level 3 on both the English and math exams.

The board is required by the Legislature to set the passing scores for state achievement tests. During the meeting and at a news conference afterward, board members and staff repeatedly referred to the new graduation scores as transitional.

“The bottom line is the board was trying to be fair. We’re transitioning between two systems,” Rarick said. “How can we hold students harmless to the changes the adults are contemplating? Everybody rallied around that point.”

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

T.J. Peters testifies during the murder trial of Alan Dean at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Bothell cold case trial now in jury’s hands

In court this week, the ex-boyfriend of Melissa Lee denied any role in her death. The defendant, Alan Dean, didn’t testify.

A speed camera facing west along 220th Street Southwest on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Washington law will allow traffic cams on more city, county roads

The move, led by a Snohomish County Democrat, comes as roadway deaths in the state have hit historic highs.

Mrs. Hildenbrand runs through a spelling exercise with her first grade class on the classroom’s Boxlight interactive display board funded by a pervious tech levy on Tuesday, March 19, 2024 in Marysville, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lakewood School District’s new levy pitch: This time, it won’t raise taxes

After two levies failed, the district went back to the drawing board, with one levy that would increase taxes and another that would not.

Alex Hanson looks over sections of the Herald and sets the ink on Wednesday, March 30, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Black Press, publisher of Everett’s Daily Herald, is sold

The new owners include two Canadian private investment firms and a media company based in the southern United States.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.