The results of last spring’s Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) tests are back, and the Everett School District says they are quite happy with its student’s performance.
The district has continued to score above the state standard in several areas with the exception of 10th-grade math, writing and listening, seventh-grade math and listening, and fourth-grade math.
According to Ric Williams, Director of Assessment and Research for the Everett School District, the trends they’ve seen in this year’s results are positive.
“We’re very pleased with the progress we’re making. Every school had something to celebrate…we have some really bright spots,” Williams said.
Though both fourth and seventh-grade listening scores fell a few percentage points in comparison to last year’s results, they scored a minimum of 10 percentage points and as high as 20 percentage points above the state average in all other areas.
Williams said that something they were very happy to see was this year’s fourth-grade reading scores. Almost 73 percent of fourth graders met the state standard, surpassing last year’s score by several percentage points.
Williams also said that what the district is most proud of is their ability to maintain their above-standard scores.
“We feel good about the fact that we don’t have any huge jumps, we have good, steady increments and nice jumps,” Williams said.
Though this years WASL results were pleasing to the district, they are still feeling a trend that most districts are experiencing: unmotivated 10th-graders.
“Our concern is the high school assessments…We looked at how students performed, and you kind of get the feeling that they’re not taking it seriously, so we’re not showing the gains we’d like to,” Williams said.
Students scored below the state average in all four areas, though they increased scores by a few percentage points in all areas but reading.
Because the WASL test has no bearing on the student’s grades, and taking it is not a graduation requirement, Williams said he believes the students don’t feel the stakes are high enough to really try their best on the WASL’s. However, all schools in Washington state are planning to make the test mandatory for complete graduation starting with the class of 2008. As a prerequisite to receiving their diploma, students will have to earn their certificate of mastery, part of which will result from meeting state standards in all areas of the WASL.
The Everett school district itself is working on their own plan to improve scores in upcoming years.
The school board is currently working on a three-year improvement plan studying how they will sustain continuous improvement in addition to noting what they need to do differently in the future.
“The schools have implemented plans based on continuous improvement model, and we’re working on that plan now,” Williams said.
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