WASL gap gets state attention
Published 9:00 pm Monday, December 5, 2005
State lawmakers want to know more about the achievement gap between boys and girls on high-stakes exams that will determine who earns a high school diploma.
Boys are lagging behind girls in 10th-grade results on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, which becomes a graduation requirement for the class of 2008, this year’s sophomores.
WASL analysis has tended to break down results by race and income, not gender.
| What’s at stake
Boys across Washington are trailing girls in key areas of the WASL, a crucial test that ultimately will determine who gets a high school diploma. Last spring, one in four boys failed all three sections of the test that must be passed in order to graduate – reading, writing and math. For a Herald analysis of the gender gap, visit cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/heraldnet/wasl. |
“It’s now hitting the headlines, so I’m sure it will be getting more attention,” said Rep. Dave Quall, D-Mount Vernon, chairman of the House Education Committee. “It does interest me.”
In a story Sunday, a computer-aided analysis by The Herald showed boys trailing girls by wide margins in reading and writing sections of the WASL.
At 95 percent of the state’s high schools, for instance, greater percentages of 10th-grade boys failed the WASL’s writing test than did girls. On the reading portion, boys lagged behind girls at 85 percent of the state’s public high schools.
Boys and girls are faring about the same on the math portion of the exam.
Writing was the subject with the biggest difference among high school students.
Statewide, about 75 percent of girls passed the writing exam compared to 57 percent of the boys. That’s where girls were five years ago. At some schools, the gap between girls’ and boys’ passing rates reached 40 percent on writing.
Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe, D-Bothell, welcomed the gender analysis. She said it points out a benefit of the WASL, because parsing of data can help educators tailor teaching.
Lawmakers know there is a problem, but solving it won’t be easy. They’ll seek answers when the new session starts Jan. 9.
The issue drew mention at a meeting Monday of the Senate Early Learning, K-12 and Higher Education Committee, which McAuliffe heads.
The Legislature is expected to decide on a request from the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction for an additional $42 million to help struggling students catch up.
“As we put money in remediation, we must be sure the resources address the needs of children of different cultures, of minorities and of boys and girls,” McAuliffe said.
Lawmakers need to know the reasons for the gender gap and possible solutions, said Sen. Dave Schmidt, R-Mill Creek, the committee’s ranking minority member.
“How much of it is cultural? How much of it is biological? And how much of it is leadership in the individual school district and school?” Schmidt asked. “In some ways, it’s premature to do anything now because there’s so many different variables.”
Sen. Paull Shin, D-Mukilteo, a member of the committee, said the size of the gap between boys and girls “came to me as a total surprise, and I’d like to see why (it exists).”
Rep. Gigi Talcott, R-Tacoma, a member of the House Education Committee, said she expects WASL passing rates for all groups to jump up next spring with this year’s sophomores, the first who are required to pass the test to graduate.
That’s what happened in Massachusetts where students are already required to pass state exams to graduate, said Talcott, who just returned from a fact-finding trip to the East Coast.
Herald reporters Jerry Cornfield and Melissa Slager contributed to this story.
