Good news, South Sound seniors: Bulk of your class passed WASL

By Venice Buhain And Diane Huber | The Olympian • Published May 28, 2008

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The overwhelming majority of South Sound seniors in the class of 2008 passed the Washington Assessment of Student Learning and will graduate.

The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction informed each district Tuesday which of its seniors passed the reading and writing portions of the standardized test or an approved alternative.

The class of 2008 is the first that must pass the reading and writing portions of the WASL to earn diplomas. Fewer than 20 students in the Olympia and North Thurston school districts did not pass the necessary portions in initial counts. Information from the Tumwater School District was unavailable Tuesday.

Olympia

The Olympia School District reported that fewer than 15 seniors failed to pass the reading or writing exam by the most recent test in April, and two students did not take the math test who needed to take it to graduate. District officials are checking to see whether the students took alternatives to the math WASL.

Passing the math test is not necessary until 2013, but students still must take the test.

Of the seniors who did not pass reading or writing, some are submitting a collection of evidence of their schoolwork to show their knowledge in a topic.

Others will have to take the WASL again in August or the Developmentally Appropriate WASL for special education students in November to graduate, said Alice Burman, Olympia assessment services program administrator.

There are about 12 Olympia seniors whose writing tests were not scored, but the district is working to resolve those tests, district spokesman Peter Rex said. Olympia has about 766 seniors in the class of 2008. Ninety-four Olympia seniors had to take one or more of the tests recently.

North Thurston

North Thurston Public Schools reported that so far, two out of 906 will not graduate because they failed to pass the WASL, spokeswoman Courtney Schrieve said.

"We're really talking about a handful of kids who won't walk because of the WASL," she said.

Graduation options

Some students might not be told their graduation status until they receive their Scholastic Aptitude Test scores as an alternative to the WASL math scores, or they finish their collection of evidence, a portfolio of work that serves as a substitute to passing any WASL test.

A more likely reason a senior might not graduate in June is because of a lack of high school credits, officials in all three districts said.

"We're doing everything we can to try to get these kids to graduate, but there are certain requirements we have to meet," Schrieve said.

Passing the reading and writing WASL exams is one of four graduation requirements. Seniors also must complete a culminating project and a "High School and Beyond Plan" that details how they plan to meet the high school graduation requirements and connect that to their postgraduation plans. Both are new this year.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.