Strong reading, writing in WASL

After three rounds of testing, about 87 percent of students in the class of 2008 who are on track to graduate next June have passed the reading section of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction reported Friday. About the same number passed writing.

When only test-takers are counted, the passage rate on both sections jumps to 96 percent, based on preliminary results.

But that picture doesn't include thousands of students in that class, the first to be required to pass reading and writing on the 10th-grade WASL (or an approved alternative) as one of their graduation requirements.

This year, the superintendent's office didn't include about 6,100 students who started high school three years ago but haven't passed enough classes to be considered juniors. It also doesn't include an undetermined number of dropouts.

Charles Hasse, president of the Washington Education Association, accused OSPI of artificially inflating student success on the test.

"It's an attempt to portray an unacceptable situation in the best possible light," he said.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Terry Bergeson, however, said her office wanted to show that most students who are expected to graduate next spring have passed the WASL. Students in the class who aren't yet juniors may not graduate for reasons other than the test.

"We're trying to focus on kids still scheduled to receive a diploma next year," she said.

Still, Bergeson promised a full report on all students in the 2008 class in August, when the final, full report on this spring's WASL scores will be released. That will include scores for students in grades 3-8 who took other versions of the WASL this spring, and science scores for 10th grade.

"We aren't going to hide anything," she said.

The August report also will include how many students in the class of 2008 have passed both reading and writing. With the Legislature's decision this year not to require students to pass the math WASL until 2013, those are the two subjects that students must pass to graduate.

The preliminary results also included scores for the class of 2009 in its first attempt on the 10th-grade test. That class scored better in writing than last year's 10th-graders, with a preliminary passing rate of 88.4 percent, compared with 83.5 percent last year. The results in reading and math were a little lower than last year, with 85.1 percent passing reading, and 53.3 percent passing math.

This year's numbers include about 6,000 students in the class of 2009 who took the test last year as ninth-graders.

The results may change as school districts and the state superintendent's office work through roughly 4,000-7,000 students on each test whose scores, for a variety of reasons, are now classified as "unresolved." Students and their families will start receiving individual student scores soon. Students can choose to go to summer school to boost their skills and/or take the WASL when it's next offered Aug. 6-7.

Some students are already pursuing some of the growing number of alternatives to the WASL. Eighty-five, for example, have met the math requirement by submitting their scores on the PSAT, SAT or ACT (although the PSAT will be phased out next year.) A handful of students have successfully appealed their scores, and about 2,000 have registered to submit a portfolio of their work.

Bergeson said she was pleased that writing scores have gone up, and that so many more students in the class of 2008 passed reading and writing this spring. In reading, an additional 5,197 students passed the test for the first time. In writing, it was 6,146.

She was also happy so many students took the WASL seriously, even though they took it as state legislators battled over whether to eliminate the test as a graduation requirement altogether. In the end, legislators put off the math requirement, although students who fail the math WASL still must take and pass math classes to earn a diploma.

Still, math scores remained relatively low.

"A miracle did not happen in math," Bergeson said.

The results, she said, reinforce the need to take more time to examine the math test, the standards, and to improve teacher training.

The Washington Education Association, however, said the results underscore fundamental problems with the WASL, especially its use as a graduation requirement. The union pointed to the fact that Washington students, compared with those in other states, do better on exams such as the SAT college-entrance test and the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

State Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe, D-Bothell, who fought to postpone reading and writing as well as math as a graduation requirement, said the overall scores are encouraging. But she remains concerned about the students who, no matter how hard they try, are going to fail for any number of reasons such as language issues or disabilities. Such students need more alternative ways to show they have the skills, she said.

Juanita Doyon, of the anti-WASL Parent Empowerment Network, said her group is working with parents who plan to file a class-action suit over the WASL graduation requirement by the end of the summer.

Bergeson, however, said she'd rather see that energy go into helping more students succeed, rather than toward fighting "standards that will help our kids be competitive in a world that's going to demand it."

Seattle Times staff reporters Emily Heffter, Karen Johnson and Rachel Tuinstra contributed to this story.

Linda Shaw: 206-464-2359 or lshaw@seattletimes.com