Seattle WASL scores improved, with some exceptions

Seattle Public Schools celebrated improvements on its Washington Assessment of Student Learning scores, even though pockets of underachievement continue, especially in the city's South End.

Among the district's highlights:

• Every fourth-grader at View Ridge Elementary and every fifth-grader at North Beach Elementary who took the reading test passed it, earning the district's only 100-percent scores;

• More than 80 percent of students districtwide who took the fourth-grade reading test passed;

• The district generally performed better than the state as a whole, though it mirrored statewide dips in seventh-grade reading scores.

"I can see that over a period of time, it's hard work, but we are inching up in all areas," said Superintendent Raj Manhas. "But on top of that, reducing the [achievement] gap somewhat, that is even better news."

The looming 2008 graduation requirement may have motivated 10th-graders to improve their scores in Seattle, and nearly half of all sophomores passed reading, math and writing.

But students in the lower grades stumbled.

Several of the West Seattle and South End elementary schools slated to close in fall 2007 saw what were among the lowest passage rates. At Whitworth Elementary School near Columbia City, for instance, only 15.6 percent of fourth-graders passed math, reading and writing.

Districts statewide, including Seattle, vowed to do more research to explain their drops in seventh-grade reading scores — in Seattle's case, four percentage points. Seventh-grade reading scores across the state fell by about 8.5 percentage points.

Seattle Public Schools is starting an intensive literacy program this year in seven of its middle schools and last spring adopted new math curriculum.

According to a district analysis, Manhas said, the achievement gap between white students and students of color narrowed, especially among fourth-graders. But the worst scores were in the most racially diverse and impoverished parts of Seattle.

At the African American Academy, fourth-grade reading scores leapt up after last year's minimal gains. But seventh-grade scores in math and reading fell.

"I am just so disappointed in the results that came out," said principal Rickie Malone. "Our scholars are much smarter than what they showed on that test."

The first step in improving scores is to analyze the data, Malone said, and change the way the school is teaching. She worried about the long-term effect bad scores will have on students at predominantly African-American schools, year after year.

"What's going to show up in the papers once again is African-American students aren't doing good, and we can't continue to do that and expect our kids to do good," she said.

Emily Heffter: 206-464-8246 or eheffter@seattletimes.com