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Test scores hold steady, but majority of schools fail to meet federal standards

by caprecord

Statewide school test scores released Wednesday show students are performing about the same on math and reading tests as in previous years. More than 90 percent of students in the class of 2014 passed graduation tests, the same as last year.

But about 1,900 schools in Washington — or 88 percent — failed to meet adequate yearly progress under federal standards. The state must comply with federal No Child Left Behind standards this year after losing its waiver.

“We had to go back to a law that Congress knows doesn’t make sense anymore,” said Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn at a news conference Wednesday. Federal officials revoked the waiver because the state Legislature did not pass a bill that would have changed teacher evaluations to incorporate standardized test scores.

“By losing our waiver, we’ve had to do some things that are ridiculous, stupid, ineffective, waste of resources and accomplished zero,” Dorn said. He cited the effort that went into sending mandatory letters to parents in failing school districts notifying them of the status. The letters were sent out over the last two weeks.

No Child Left Behind requires 100 percent of students to pass reading and math by 2014.

Reading and math scores for Washington students in grades 3-10 show only slight changes from the previous year, except for a 5.9 percent drop in 7th grade math scores and a 5.4 percent increase in reading scores for 8th graders.

“We’ve stayed kind of steady the last three years,” Dorn said. “Which is probably, in my mind, good news.”

Full results are available on OSPI’s website here.

TVW taped Wednesday’s press conference. Watch it below.