Students in Snohomish County and across Washington posted mixed results on high-profile statewide exams taken in the spring, according to a report released Thursday.
In general, results on the Washington Assessment of Student learning, better known as the WASL, showed:
n Fourth-, fifth- and eighth-grade passing rates in the county and state slipped in reading;
n Seventh-graders improved in reading, writing and math;
n 10th grade results were a mixed bag.
Public attention remains focused on this year’s seniors who are the first class that must pass the 10th-grade reading and writing exams to graduate.
Statewide, 83.6 percent of the class of 2008 has passed both exams 87.5 percent in reading and 87.5 percent in writing. The passing rate among seniors in math, which has been delayed as a graduation requirement until 2013, is 63 percent.
Passing rates could increase in the next few weeks when results of students who retook the exams during summer vacation earlier this month are figured into the totals.
Strip away the students who haven’t taken the WASL yet and the passing rates are 92.6 percent in reading and 95.3 percent in writing.
“You go from the numbers to the individuals,” said Terry Edwards, curriculum director of the Everett School District. “They each have a different story of why they couldn’t get there.”
Many local districts were still calculating how their seniors are faring on Thursday.
In the Edmonds district, for example, 90.3 percent of this year’s seniors have passed the reading WASL and 90.6 percent have passed the writing. Nearly 88 percent of the district’s seniors have passed both subjects and are on track to graduate.
Pull out the seniors who haven’t taken the WASL and passage rates jump to 96.2 percent in reading and 96.1 percent in writing.
The passing rate in math is 71.6 percent for Edmonds School District seniors who have taken the exam.
“I think for us what it tells us is we have made some nice progress in reading and writing and we are seeing steady progress in math,” said Tony Byrd, assistant superintendent of teaching and learning. “We are not going to be satisfied until we get the remaining students through.”
The Lakewood School District in north Snohomish County has also seen most of its seniors cross the WASL hurdle.
“We are probably in the range of kids I would suspect if they haven’t passed the reading and writing WASLs that might not be their only impediment to graduating,” said Lakewood Superintendent Larry Francois. “They may be credit deficient as well.”
That was a trend state Superintendent Terry Bergeson emphasized Thursday when she released WASL results.
Her office contracted with an independent researcher to compare test data with high school credits earned by students hoping to graduate. The study suggested that not having enough credits needed for graduation may be a bigger obstacle for students than passing the WASL.
“You have to concentrate on the credit base and the WASL scores will follow,” Edwards said.
Thousands more diplomas would be in jeopardy if the Legislature didn’t delay the math WASL graduation requirement until 2013. Students who have not passed will be required to take math courses this year.
State lawmakers made the decision to postpone the math WASL graduation requirement because of poor scores and concern the school system wasn’t able to provide students the math skills they need in time.
Statewide, 61 percent of the class of 2008 has passed all three WASLs. Another 22.5 percent, or 16,470 seniors, have passed reading and writing, but not the math.
On the flip side, there are also about 6,000 seniors who have yet to pass any of the three sections of the WASL, including the reading and writing they need to graduate. However, state officials caution that some students more than 5 percent of last year’s junior class, have not yet taken the WASL.
Some recent immigrants, special-education students, students who are well behind in credits and students moving from another state are part of the group scheduled to graduate in 2008 without WASL scores.
The news was generally encouraging for students who were sophomores last year. In most schools in the county, more than 80 percent of incoming juniors passed reading and writing exams. That mirrors the statewide passing rates of 80.6 percent in reading and 83.6 percent in writing. Reading dipped 1.4 percent and writing increased 3.8 percent statewide.
At Henry M. Jackson High School in Mill Creek, Kamiak High School in Mukilteo and Marysville Arts &Technology High School, passing rates exceeded 90 percent for sophomores in both reading and writing.
At 68 percent, Kamiak also had the highest percentage of sophomores pass reading, writing and math WASLs. Edmonds-Woodway, Meadowdale and Snohomish high schools were the only schools where more than half of 10th-graders passed all three subjects.
In the elementary classes, third-graders showed marked improvement in reading and math over those tested in 2006, and there were gains in math scores in grades five and seven and in writing for grade seven.
At the same time, reading passing rates slipped among fourth-, fifth- and eighth-grade students.
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