WASL: Most incoming juniors pass reading, writing exams

Most Snohomish County incoming juniors have passed the reading and writing portions of the 10th-grade WASL but barely more than half have met state academic standards in math.

At most comprehensive high schools, the passing rates well exceeded 80 percent in reading and 90 percent in writing, the two subjects that students must pass to earn their diplomas.

“As we have said in the past, we don’t think the WASL is going to be a serious graduation barrier for students,” said Terry Edwards, a curriculum director for the Everett School District. “The greater barrier appears to be credits earned in high school.”

Local results largely mirrored statewide trends on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, a series of state exams given each year to thousands of students in elementary school through high school.

Of students who will start 11th grade next week, 75.4 percent have fulfilled both the reading and writing graduation requirements, with 84.5 percent passing writing and 80 percent passing reading, according to results released Tuesday by the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Among this year’s incoming seniors, 88.7 percent have passed reading, 90.6 percent have passed writing and 86 percent have passed both. About 5 percent of this year’s senior class have yet to take a WASL exam.

“I am very pleased to see that students are continuing the momentum set last year by the historic class of 2008,” said state Superintendent Terry Bergeson. “We know there’s still plenty of hard work ahead, but these results are very encouraging to me. We know students are more than capable of meeting these new graduation requirements, which are critical for success later in life.”

In Snohomish County, at three large comprehensive high schools — Edmonds-­Woodway, Henry M. Jackson and Kamiak — the passing rate exceeded 90 percent in reading and writing.

Math scores on the WASL continued to lag. The statewide passing rate for last spring’s sophomores was 49.3 percent, about 1 percent less than a year ago. At eight of the county’s 19 comprehensive high schools, less than half the 10th-graders passed the math WASL.

Passing the math WASL was once slated to be a graduation requirement. The Legislature pulled the plug on the WASL math exam as a graduation requirement after it became clear that thousands of students would not be able to pass the test. Instead, students who don’t pass the math WASL through test retakes must continue taking math classes through their senior year or pass an alternative to the math WASL.

Cathy Anderegg, executive director of instructional programs for the Lakewood School District, said her district hopes to improve math scores by getting across “what’s the relevance of these concepts to the outside world.”

Lakewood is working with the University of Washington Math Institute, which gives training to middle- and high school teachers.

At Mountlake Terrace High School, last spring’s sophomores showed improvement in reading, writing, math and science from the year before.

“It validates for the staff that all the work they are doing is paying off,” principal Greg Schwab said.

This spring’s WASL testing in grades three through eight showed mixed results, with fifth- and eighth-graders showing marked improvement in reading, math and science, while fourth- and seventh-graders slipped in reading and math, but improved in writing. Overall, elementary and secondary students improved in nine subject categories, were within 1 percent (plus or minus) in five and dropped in six.

Bergeson said there have been gradual gains in writing, breakthroughs in science but a stall in reading and math scores in elementary and middle schools.

Snohomish County schools closely reflected state trends.

The Monroe School District hit the same plateau with its reading scores in the early grades and plans to concentrate on improving its elementary school literacy program this year.

The district will have the same kindergarten through fifth-grade curriculum and teaching materials across the district with an emphasis on comprehension, phonics, vocabulary and spelling. It will have enough flexibility to accommodate students whose reading skills are above and below grade level.

“It offers us a wide range of reading materials at the appropriate level,” said Fran Mester, Monroe’s assistant superintendent.

The district also will be bringing in a reading consultant to demonstrate new teaching strategies in classrooms as well as specially trained teachers at each school to guide co-workers with the new curriculum.

“You can get kids to be good readers, but, at the same time, there is a set of rules they need to have to become strategic readers,” Mester said.

In Marysville, math scores dipped at some elementary schools.

School district leaders attributed the drop to students adjusting to a new, more rigorous math curriculum. Other districts have experienced a similar one-year dip, only to have scores increase in the second and third years, said Gail Miller, Marysville’s assistant superintendent.

Miller cautioned that WASL scores are just one measurement of student achievement. She also said it just takes longer for some students to meet the state standards.

Last year, just five out of nearly 700 graduating seniors in Marysville didn’t earn a diploma because of WASL scores alone.

“Based on the evidence of our first experience, we can get kids to pass the WASL for graduation,” Miller said. “We also want them to be able to do math well.”