By Brian Beckley
The Courier-Herald
Overall, officials in the Sumner School District are pleased with the preliminary results from this year's 10th grade Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) exam, but admit there is still work to do.
According to numbers provided by the district, 89 percent of the sophomore class passed the reading and writing tests while 54 percent passed the math portion of the exam.
All three numbers are an improvement over the 2005 results. Last year, 74.9 percent passed the reading WASL, 71.4 percent passed the writing WASL and 48.5 percent passed the math WASL.
“We are encouraged by the significant gains in the reading and writing scores, and while the math score increased only slightly, it is still above the state average,” Superintendent Donald Eismann said in an e-mail.
According to numbers provided by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, 85.6 percent of sophomores passed the reading section, 83.6 percent passed the writing section and 53.9 percent passed the math section of the exam statewide.
The class of 2008 is the first group to be required to pass the WASL exams in order to graduate. The district last week sent letters to the homes of more than 600 students detailing how they fared on the exams and presenting the options for students who failed one or more parts of the test.
Students who failed one or more parts of the exam may retake it Aug. 7-10. To help prepare, Sumner is offering summer school classes June 26 through Aug. 4.
Students wishing to retake any part of the WASL must register through OSPI between June 9 and July 9 (see box).
Craig Spencer, Sumner's executive director of curriculum, instruction and assessment, said the district increase in reading and writing scores is partially attributable to a change in scheduling at the district's high schools.
The new modified block schedules, which began this year, keep students in math, science and English classes all year, instead of half a year.
“We just have to be tenacious,” he said.
Spencer said the district's math scores “did show gains, just not as much as we would like,” which he said shows students are having trouble making the transition from classroom instruction to the tests.
“I think we have focused on math resources. I don't think we focused on math instruction,” he said, adding that the district needs to “find a better way for students to gain access.”
Spencer said though there has been an increased focus on “problem solving,” or word problems, the students may understand how to use the formulas, but not necessarily when.
“I just think that we need more work on these kinds of things,” he said.
Spencer also said the district had to focus more on extra learning opportunities for students including after school instructing to provide a “double dosing” of math. He also said the district needs to do a better job picking up the pace in remedial classes
Contact the Sumner High School curriculum office at 253-891-5500 for assistance. Students must register to take the August WASL through the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) between June 9 and July 9. Students can register online at http://www.k12.wa.us/waslregistration or call 1-866-400-WASL (9275) between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. The State Student Identifier (SSID) number, located on the front of the Individual Score Report, will be required for registration.
Brian Beckley can be reached at bbeckley@courierherald.com.
