Common Core standards hard to meet for Washington students

SEATTLE – Preliminary results in Washington state from the new tests based on the Common Core learning standards show students are finding the new exams more challenging than the old state tests.

Fewer Washington students scored proficient on the new exams than they did on the tests based on old education standards.

OSPI spokesman Nate Olson cautions against comparing this year’s results to previous test results because the new exams test student understanding of different standards.

“It’s an apples-to-oranges comparison,” Olson said.

Just over half of the children tested in grades three through eight met the standard on the new English language arts tests this year, according to data released Thursday. And just under half the state’s elementary students met the standard in math.

High school students did better than elementary students on the English test, with 62 percent making the grade. They did worse on the math test, however, with only 29 percent meeting the standard.

Last year’s results had about 70 percent of elementary students meeting the state reading standard and more than 60 percent meeting the math standard. More than 90 percent of students in the class of 2014 met those standards and more than 80 percent of the class of 2015 had already met the standards in both English and math last year.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn called the test results a great beginning, and most students did better on Common Core tests, also known as the Smarter Balanced exams, than they did on a trial run in spring 2014.

Fewer high school students passed the math exam this year than did during the field test in 2014, but more students were tested this spring.

“These new tests give educators a clearer picture of how the system is doing and where instructional improvements need to be made,” Dorn said in a statement.