WASL scores on the upswing in Yakima

YAKIMA, Wash. -- It may be a slow trend, but WASL scores in the Valley's largest school district remain in a modest climb.

Washington Assessment of Student Learning scores for high school students in the Yakima School District are nearly identical to last year's scores.

But over a five-year trend, some of those numbers have risen substantially.

On Thursday, the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction released preliminary statewide WASL scores for the classes of 2009, 2010 and 2011.

Yakima's class of 2011 was very close to its counterparts around the state who met both the reading and writing standard on the WASL. Statewide, it was 73 percent; in Yakima, it was 70.

Mathematics continues to be a bugaboo statewide as well as here: 45 percent of Washington sophomores met math standards on the test, while just 25 percent met them here.

"There's been virtually no change in the last 10 years in high school math," said Greg Day, academic assessment director for the Yakima School District. "It's very strange."

Although high school students are required to meet standards in reading and writing to graduate, they don't have to meet the math standard until 2013.

Sophomores, juniors or seniors who want to retake the WASL may do so during the week of Aug. 10-13; students may contact their local school district for details.

The good news about the WASLs in Yakima, said Day, is that students haven't regressed in the last several years, and scores are on a steady incline from five years ago. For instance, in the 2004-05 school year, just one in two sophomores met reading and writing standards on the WASL; now it's seven in 10.

Nearly 1,300 Yakima sophomores took the test in the spring.

When State Super-intendent Randy Dorn released test results Thursday, he noted that 93 percent of high school seniors have passed the reading and writing portions. But he expressed particular concern about the 7 percent of students who didn't meet standard as well as those who dropped out before graduating.

Day said he thinks Dorn's point is well taken.

"I think that's a good thing to bring to the forefront. It's not the WASL that's the obstacle to graduation; it's lack of credits," he said.

Two years ago, the latest year available, 64 percent of students in Yakima graduated from high school in four years. The statewide number is 72 percent.

Students get discouraged when they don't accumulate the number of class credits to graduate, he said.

Similar WASL trends to Yakima's were in evidence in Sunnyside, the largest school district in the Lower Valley.

Slightly more than 62 percent of sophomores met reading and writing standards, about the same as last year.

"For the last five years, we've been on an upward swing in reading and writing," explained Lori Froese, Sunnyside assessment director. "But we've hovered at about the same scores for the last two years."

Math, however, has been more discouraging, she said. Twenty percent of the sophomores met that standard.

On Thursday, OSPI released only the high school math, writing and reading scores. High school science scores as well as overall scores for students in grades three through eight will come out in August.

Each school district now has preliminary WASL scores, but not all have analyzed them.

During the summer, most districts will analyze their numbers to see what the testing trends are among their students and will release their data in August.

But WASL trends will soon become a thing of the past, or at least the nomenclature will.

When Dorn campaigned for the superintendent's post, he was openly critical of the WASL, saying it didn't accurately measure academic progress.

True to his pledge, he's replacing the WASL next year. Students in grades 3 through 8 will take the Measurements of Student Progress, and upper grades will take the High School Proficiency Exam.

The new state tests will be shorter and the time it takes to administer them will also be cut. Eventually, the plan is for students to take much of the test online.

* Jane Gargas can be reached at 509-577-7690 or jgargas@yakimaherald.com.