Successful scores

Spokane Valley schools scores for the 2005-2006 Washington Assessment of Student Learning, in general, have improved in reading, while many students continue to struggle to meet standards in math.

Writing scores are up for most fourth- and 10th-graders, and a mixed bag for seventh-graders.

Results were released last month. These are the results from tests taken last spring.

West Valley School District’s Ness Elementary fourth-graders’ math scores went up 21 percentile points, and their reading went up 18 points.

A large percentage of Ness students come from low-income families, with 69 percent of the children qualifying for free or reduced-price meals. Statewide, schools with low-income students usually don’t do as well on the WASL.

Ness Principal Mike Lollar said his students are successful for several reasons.

“We were fortunate to see a big jump in scores. It isn’t one thing really, but a combination of things. Our teachers have high expectations, and they balance rigorous academics with personal relationships with the students and their families,” said Lollar.

Lollar said that through assessments they are able to pinpoint where a student needs extra help. They use small breakout groups of eight to 10 students and focus on their individual needs.

Lollar also credits the extended-day program, where three days a week, students stay at school from 3:30 to 5 p.m.

On one of those days the Washington State University Extension team teaches things like cooking and nutrition. The students learn math, reading and writing through group activities.

Scores for fourth-graders at East Valley’s Otis Orchards Elementary also jumped. Their reading scores went up 25 points;, writing rose 29 points and math scores were up eight points.

At Otis Orchards 42 percent of the students qualify for free or reduced-priced meals.

For the past decade, WASL tests have been administered to fourth-, seventh- and 10th-graders.

In 2006, students in grades three through eight and grade 10 were tested. The additional grades were tested because it’s now required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

The WASL results for grades three, five, six and eight will be used as baseline data to track student progress from year to year.

Writing is the only test that is not required under federal guidelines. Science, however, is part of the NCLB testing requirement and was included in the 2006 WASL for grades five, eight and 10.

Last year’s 10th-graders received their scores in June. Because students in the class of 2008 and beyond are required to pass the reading, writing and math sections of the WASL to graduate, students who fail a section are able to retake that section four more times.

Those who fail any section twice may be able to use an alternative of “comparable rigor,” including portfolios of student work, calculations of student grades in core classes and, for math only, specific scores achieved on certain college entrance exams such as ACT and SAT.

The WASL test is different from year to year so it’s not really a standardized test.

Critics of the exam say that when scores for a particular grade level or subject area drop significantly districtwide or statewide, it’s not because teachers didn’t teach as well, or that students didn’t learn as well as the previous year. What this means is that the test changed and scoring comparisons are difficult.