Washington state's WASL scores up

Tenth-grade scores on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) showed noticeable improvement over those from last year's sophomores.

Preliminary numbers show nearly 86 percent of 10th-graders passed the reading section of the 2006 WASL; 84 percent passed writing and 54 percent passed math.

But those initial scores, released this morning by the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, do not include about 10,000 student records that, for a number of reasons, need to be examined. Some students have been counted twice, for example. Others are special-education students who this year had the option of taking the fourth-or seventh-grade versions of the WASL.

OSPI did not release the percentage of students who passed reading, writing and math--the three subjects required for graduation. State officials said they need more time to sort through the data before calculating a final, statewide passage rate.

Last year, 42 percent of sophomores passed all three. In 2005, the initial results showed that 77 percent of 10th-graders passed reading; 71 percent passed writing, and 51 percent passed math. Final 2005 results, however, showed that 73 percent passed reading, 65 percent passed writing and 48 percent passed math.

The class of 2008 is the first group of students who must pass the test (or an approved alternative) to graduate. Students will receive their own scores by June 14.

The numbers released Thursday allow the state and school districts to determine how many students are eligible for remedial summer classes before WASL retakes are offered in August.

The statewide scores are expected to change slightly. More than 11,000 student records remain to be reconciled on each of the three tests.

At a news conference this morning in Renton, state Superintendent Terry Bergeson emphasized the importance of improving math scores.

"We can't walk away from it," she said.

OSPI plans to release all test results in late August or early September. This year, students in grades 3-8 also took the exam. Science scores for 10th-graders (a subject not required for graduation until 2010) will be released later this summer, as well.