Test's failure rate grim for efforts to lift minorities

Minority students in many school districts are scoring well below white and Asian students and are disproportionately failing all three subject areas now required for graduation, according to results of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) released earlier this month.

An analysis of minority students' performance on the 10th-grade WASL in math, reading and writing shows that:

• Forty-seven percent of Native Americans and 39 percent of Hispanics in the Marysville School District failed to meet standards in any subject.

• Forty-six percent of Hispanics in the Monroe School District failed to meet standards in any subject.

• Forty percent of Hispanics in the Mukilteo School District failed to meet standards in any subject.

• Thirty-six percent of Hispanics and 24 percent of African Americans and Native Americans in the Everett School District failed to meet standards in any subject.

Districts say they have generally made gains across all racial groups the past few years. Particularly in reading and writing, minority scores are approaching those of whites and Asians in many districts, including Edmonds and Northshore.

But advocates for minority students say the high failure rates will likely discourage many students and add to the dropout rate.

"We know minorities have the highest dropout rate. When they're not scoring well on the WASL, that relates to their staying in school," said J.J. Frank, a member of Communities of Color, a Snohomish County advocacy group.

Chrissy Dulik Dalos, manager of Indian education for the Marysville schools, said efforts to improve academic achievement among Native American students is "still a work in progress."

An Indian Education Parent Committee meets monthly to address "hot topics" in education, and six Native Americans work as liaisons to the Marysville schools.

At the elementary level, they are identifying students with attendance problems and working with families to intervene early, Dalos said. At the high-school level, liaisons are working with students to help them make up failed classes and get on track to graduate. And the district is incorporating new classroom materials that reflect its students' racial diversity, she said.

But for Tulalip tribal members, who provide funding and support to the Marysville schools, the large number of failing students is troubling.

"We've got a lot of work to do," said John McCoy, general manager of Quil Ceda Village.

In Mukilteo, Meryl Keim, who heads the district's programs for minority students, notes Hispanics are the county's fastest-growing population and that a number of students enroll in school without strong English-language skills.

At Mariner High School, where the bulk of the district's Hispanic 10th-graders are enrolled, bilingual teachers offer after-school tutorials. State money also has allowed the district to offer smaller classes for students who aren't meeting standards, Keim said.

District spokesman Andy Muntz notes that the number of 10th-grade Hispanic students who failed all three subjects on the WASL has dropped from 52 percent in 2004 to its current 40 percent.

"We're heading in the right direction," Muntz said.

In Monroe, Assistant Superintendent Fran Mester said the district is identifying Hispanic students who didn't meet standards and assigning them to a Hispanic academic counselor. The district is also contacting families and making sure their communications are in Spanish.

And she noted that although the percentage of Hispanics failing all three subjects is high, the actual number of students is about 16, a number she said the district can help.

The Everett School District is adding classes for students who weren't successful on the WASL and is contacting parents every 15 days if their student has a D or F in any class. The district is also adding programs to encourage college enrollment for minority students.

Terry Edwards, Everett's director of curriculum and assessment, told the School Board last week that while minority scores in reading and writing have shown "huge gains" over the past four years, math scores for minorities are still only about half those for Asians and whites.

Edwards said the district faces not so much an achievement problem but a math problem. Just 19 percent of African Americans and 23 percent of Hispanics passed the math portion of the 10th-grade WASL.

"It's our challenge, the state's challenge and the nation's challenge," he said. "It comes down to getting each individual through."

Lynn Thompson: 425-745-7807 or lthompson@seattletimes.com