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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Preliminary WASL scores low in math

By Sara Leaming and Kandis Carper The Spokesman-Review

Nearly half of the state’s 10th-graders failed the math portion of the WASL, according to results released Thursday.

Preliminary scores released by the state for more than 70,000 sophomores who took the Washington Assessment of Student Learning this spring show about 54 percent met the standard in math.

However, students did make significant gains in reading and writing scores, with 86 percent passing the reading section and 84 percent passing in writing.

“The movement is tremendous (compared) to what we’ve seen in the past,” state Superintendent Terry Bergeson said. Last year 73 percent of sophomores met the reading standard, and 65 percent passed in writing.

The gains in math were smaller. Forty-eight percent passed math last year.

“I’m not ready to make a lot of big judgments today, but clearly many, many kids are struggling with mathematics,” Bergeson said.

Results for the 10th-graders came earlier than usual so students could make arrangements for summer school and a retake scheduled for August. Score reports are expected to be released to parents by June 14. They will exclude results for science.

Scores for all other grades and special education students who took an alternative assessment will be released in the fall, state officials said.

The statewide results may change slightly after scores for about 11,000 additional students are examined. Some of those students may have more than one test booklet or incomplete booklets, state officials said.

State officials did not say how many sophomores failed all three sections of the WASL. Passing all three is a requirement starting with this year’s class of sophomores.

The preliminary results for some Spokane-area students were hard to evaluate, because some districts remained tight-lipped, releasing only certain figures.

Spokane Public Schools would only reveal the number of students who met the standard, not the number of student booklets scored or the number who failed.

District officials said they will not consider the figures valid until all of the sophomore tests statewide are examined, including the 11,000 with unresolved issues. It was unclear Thursday how many of those students are from Spokane. Some could be marked as having “no score,” and therefore considered below the standard, officials said.

A school district press release saying “Congratulations, students!” showed 1,688 Spokane students met the standard in reading, 1,612 met the standard in writing, and 1,093 passed the math portion.

According to previous reports, about 2,200 sophomores in the district’s six high schools took the exam in 2006.

“I’m really hesitant to make any generalizations. It is just not accurate enough for us,” said Nancy Stowell, assistant superintendent for teaching and learning. “The purpose of this information at all is to identify those students who didn’t make standard, so we can get them into summer school.”

Stowell said the district had many students who were tested using alternative assessments.

Central Valley School District would not release the numbers for those who met the standard. Instead, the district simply released the number of test booklets scored: 931 reading tests, 923 writing tests and 916 math tests.

“It’s too preliminary. It’s just raw data. When we go through and sort them, sometimes there’s a 10 percent difference. There can be huge variations,” said Melanie Rose, district spokeswoman.

East Valley and West Valley school districts aren’t releasing any figures yet.

But, said Gene Sementi, assistant superintendent at West Valley, “Our profile as a district is probably going to be pretty similar to the state’s when you combine all three schools together.”

Mead School District reported that out of about 795 students who had scores in all three sections, 719 met the standard in both reading and writing, and 522 – about 65 percent and well above the state average – passed the math section.

Many districts say math will be a priority next school year. Spokane will implement a controversial mathematics curriculum called Core-Plus for its high school students.

Spokane and West Valley will be require three years of math for incoming freshmen, rather than two.

Every district will be using money apportioned by the Legislature to pay for WASL remediation, based on how many students did not pass one or more sections of the test. That includes summer school programs and programs implemented next school year.

Students have five chances to take the exam. If they prefer, under new rules adopted by the Legislature, after two attempts, students can choose to prove proficiency through alternative methods. That includes scoring well on the math portion of the Scholastic Aptitude Test, or the PSAT.

“The state will pick up the tab” for the test, said Rep. Gigi Talcott, R-Tacoma, a member of the House Education Committee.

“It’s a very clean, clear way to show you have the skills.”