Video: WASL results bring both good and bad news

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SEATTLE - The state has released the latest WASL scores, and the results are a mixed bag. While more high school kids seem to be passing and improving their reading and writing skills, the results for elementary school children are less encouraging.

The test results were released by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Terry Bergeson on Tuesday.

For 45 minutes she used a PowerPoint presentation to break down the test results, to show how every student group based on age, ethnicity, economic background and other factors fared.

The good news is that the class of 2009 is slightly ahead of last year's class when it comes to entering their senior year, having already passed their WASL requirement.

In hard numbers, 86 percent have already passed both the reading and writing WASL requirement.

But the news is less rosy for younger students. Test results for third through eighth graders show they are struggling in several subjects, and the number passing the math and reading requirement has actually dropped in several grades, specifically in testing of fourth and seventh graders.

Bergeson said there's clearly more work to be done.

"We have to have more alignment in our system. If we have standards and we assess them and we have expectations for students and we know those are the right things for them to learn, we've got to line up the system to be able to have the teachers and the children to win," she said.

Highlights:

Percentage of students who met standards:

- Third grade: reading, 70.4 percent; mathematics, 68.3 percent.

- Fourth grade: reading, 72.3 percent; mathematics, 53.4 percent; writing, 62.1 percent.

- Fifth grade: reading, 75.3 percent; mathematics: 61.0 percent; science: 42.9 percent.

- Sixth grade: reading, 68.6 percent; mathematics, 48.9 percent.

- Seventh grade: reading, 62.8 percent; mathematics, 50.3 percent; writing, 69.7 percent.

- Eighth grade: reading, 65.9 percent; mathematics, 51.5 percent; science, 47.9 percent.

- 10th grade: reading, 81.3 percent; mathematics, 49.3 percent; writing, 86.2 percent; science, 39.7 percent.

High school students must pass the reading and writing parts of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning among other graduation requirements. They need to either pass the math WASL or keep taking and passing math classes and keep trying to pass the WASL. The state offers several alternatives to the WASL exams.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.