College math test for high school? Educators have a plan for Granite Falls High School

GRANITE FALLS — Eric and Andrea Cahan, husband and wife, can’t help talking about education over the dinner table.

Eric is the principal at Granite Falls High School; Andrea, a math instructor, works with students at Everett Community College.

“Unfortunately, I don’t leave work at school very well and she doesn’t either,” Eric Cahan said.

Both want to see more students ready for college-level math when they leave high school.

So they sat down and hashed out a plan.

Part of it unfolded in December when nearly the entire junior class at Granite Falls High School took a college math placement test as part of a pilot program. It was the first such large-scale testing the college has done at a high school in Snohomish County. The assessment was paid for with grant money the college received for recruiting and retaining students.

Eric Cahan hopes the results will convince more students to take math as seniors in high school and better understand their strengths and weaknesses. Test results provide students with an indicator of what math class they would be placed in.

About half the freshmen entering community college statewide are required to take a pre-college math course because of their scores on placement exams. Many high school students simply don’t take math their senior year.

Results varied, but “they actually did pretty well,” said Linda Baca, entry services manager with EvCC’s enrollment services office.

Any student enrolling at EvCC must take placement tests.

The college hopes the testing helped students set academic priorities for their senior year.

“We are trying to plant the seed and to give them the idea to gain as much knowledge as they can when they are in high school,” Baca said.

Cahan and Baca said it also can be helpful information for students who might not have been thinking about college.

Sometimes students with low grades in high school are surprised by the results on college placement exams.

“Even if they weren’t doing well in high school this might be an opportunity to turn them around,” Baca said.

Reporter Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446 or stevick@heraldnet.com.