OLYMPIA — More than 90 percent of 12th graders in the Class of 2014 passed all of their assessment graduation requirements and younger grades had ups and downs, according to the official score release for the 2014 administration of Washington’s state tests.
Tests include the High School Proficiency Exams (HSPEs) and End-of-Course (EOC) exams for students in high school–level courses, and Measurements of Student Progress (MSP) for grades 3-8.
“We’re holding steady from last year,” State Superintendent Randy Dorn said. “Students and teachers have worked hard to get here. At this point, there aren’t any significant changes.”
Results must be seen through a different lens this year.
Last spring, the U.S. Department of Education refused to renew Washington’s waiver from some of the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), including the reporting of Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), for the 2014-15 school year.
After a long summer of waiting and wondering, state test results finally reveal which schools met — and did not meet — AYP.
Adequate Yearly Progress
With this year’s loss of the NCLB waiver, the state is again required to report AYP. A school’s AYP status is based on state test scores in reading and math from 2014 and 2011. Schools that participated in the Smarter Balanced assessments instead of the MSP agreed to use their scores from 2013 and 2011.
School years 2011-12 and 2012-13 are excluded because Washington operated under a waiver from reporting AYP.
Of the state’s 2,176 schools, less than 12 percent (260) met the AYP. Twenty-two school districts (7.5 percent) met the AYP.
Shannon Thompson, director of teaching and learning, said that the South Kitsap School District not meet the AYP of 100 percent of all student meeting standard in reading and mathematics on the 2014 state assessments and is at Step 2.
“SKSD is one of 112 school district across the state to be in Step 2 of district improvement,” Thompson said. “Being in a step of improvement means that as a district we have not met the AYP targets.”
State test scored show that Madrona Heights preschool program and Olalla Elementary did meet AYP.
Thompson said that the Madrona Heights preschool program does not participate in the state testing.
Schools can meet AYP in three ways:
• 100-percent proficiency: All students in all subgroups perform at grade level on all state tests.
• Margin of error: Schools are close to 100 percent proficiency. “Standard error” is added to the actual percent meeting standard. The size of the margin of error varies by the size of the school: Smaller schools have larger margins of error.
• Safe harbor: Schools reduce the percent of students not meeting standard by 27 percent (for schools that administered MSP this year) or 19 percent (for schools that administered the Smarter Balanced field test this year) from the percent that didn’t meet standard in 2011. The threshold for Smarter Balanced schools is lower because those schools are using their 2013 MSP results.
“As a district, we are planning to continue to focus our efforts on providing an education to best prepare the 21st Century ‘Whole Child’ for the changing world they will be entering,” said Thompson. “Such efforts include all-day kindergarten, International Baccalaureate and STEM focused schools while continuing to support nationally recognized arts programs and a wide array of competitive athletic teams.”
Exit exams
Students in the Class of 2014 are required to pass a reading HSPE; a writing HSPE; and one math EOC, either in algebra I/integrated math I or geometry/integrated math II, (or state-approved alternatives). The Class of 2015 and beyond must also pass a science EOC in biology.
Test results show that 94.5 percent of the Class of 2014 passed reading, compared to 89.1 for Class of 2015 and 81.1 for Class of 2016.
In writing, 94.5 percent of the Class of 2014 passed, while 89.5 of 2015 and 83.4 of 2016 passed.
The Class of 2014 has 92.1 pass math, 83.8 of 2015 and 76.3 of 2016 passed. In science, 82.2 percent if 2015 and 6.3 of 2016 passed. The Class of 2015 was not required to take the science part of the exams.
Among the Class of 2014, 90.6 percent met all assessment requirements for graduation, compared to 74.1 of 2015 and 61.9 of 2016.
To be eligible for graduation, students in the Class of 2014 must also earn adequate credits, and complete a high school and beyond plan and culminating project. During the 2014 session, the State Legislature discontinued the culminating project requirement for the Class of 2015 and beyond.
The final on-time graduation rate for the Class of 2014 will be available in February.
Measurements of Student Progress
Reading and math are tested every year in grades 3 through 8. Writing is tested in grades 4 and 7 and science is tested in grades 5 and 8.
This year, about one-third of students in the state participated in the field test for Smarter Balanced instead of the MSP. Those students will not receive scores and their absence from the data must be considered when looking at year-to-year trends.
MSP results show that grade 3 had lower results than in 2013 in math (63.2), but remain stead in reading (72.2). Grade 4 results show a drop in reading (70.1) and math (60.9), while steady in writing (62.1). Grade 5 showed remained the same as 2013 in reading (72.6) and science (66.4), but improved in math (63.7).
In grade 6, reading (72.7) and math (63.6) scores were up. Grade 7 results showed a decline in reading (67.7) and math (57.8), but stead in writing at 71.1. Grade 8 results were improvements in reading (71.6), math (55.9) and science (67.2).
