Compute2.gif (1945 bytes) 

 

 

 

 

 

BELLINGHAM PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Bellingham, Washington

 

 

WASHINGTON STATE ASSESSMENT SYSTEM

2001-2002 REPORT OF ACHIEVEMENT

 

 

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

 

 

Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL)

 

The Washington Assessment of Student Learning is the criterion-referenced component of the state assessment system.  The WASL is required by the state to provide information about our students’ skills and application of those skills compared to set standards.  The WASL provides information about the performance of our students in reading, writing, mathematics, and listening.  The test was developed in response to the 1993 Education Reform Act (HB 1209) and is intended to measure student progress toward meeting state standards as defined by the Essential Academic Learning Requirements (EALRs) and Benchmarks. 

 

Students and teachers use the data from this assessment to measure progress toward reaching state and district learning targets, and to set goals for future learning.  In addition, school and district staffs use the information to evaluate programs, develop strategic plans, and identify activities that support increased achievement for all students.  Meeting standards on the WASL in reading, writing, mathematics, and listening will be required for attaining a Certificate of Mastery and a high school diploma for graduates in 2008.

 

This report includes summary data from the 2002 WASL for grades 4, 7 and 10; trend data beginning in 1997; and progress toward reading and math improvement goals set in 2000-01.  This is the second year that cohort data is available for students who have taken the WASL at two grade levels. 

 

 

Iowa Tests of Basic Skills/Iowa Test of Educational Development (ITBS/ITED) 

 

The Iowa Tests are the norm-referenced component of the state assessment system.  They are required by the state to provide information about our students’ relative strengths and weaknesses in basic skills compared to a national peer group.  The ITBS is intended to measure student achievement in reading and mathematics at grades 3 and 6, and language at grade 6.  The ITED is intended to measure student achievement in reading and quantitative thinking (mathematics) in grade 9. 

 

Although individual student scores are provided, ITBS/ITED results are used primarily for program and instructional evaluation at the school, district and state levels.  Results of the ITBS/ITED provide comparative information about student progress and should be considered in conjunction with the results of the WASL, district and classroom assessments. 

 

While this report emphasizes WASL results, Attachment 1 provides summary data for ITBS and ITED from 1999-2000 to 2001-2002.

2001-02 WASL ACHIEVEMENT DATA

 

In spring of 2002, the Washington Assessment of Student Learning was administered to over 2400 students in grades 4, 7, and 10.  Based on the District Summary of Student Performance, Bellingham students performed above the state average in all areas of reading, mathematics, writing and listening.  Attachments 2-11 provide district and school results as well as trend data from 1997 to 2002.  Findings are detailed in the following summary.

 

Overall 2002 District Wide WASL Findings

 

§         The percent of students meeting or exceeding standards in all four areas ranged from 31 percent at grade 7 to 38 percent at grade 10.  These results were similar to last year, but down 1.6 percentage points at grade 10.

§         The strongest gains from last year’s results were made in writing at all grade levels

§         Performance in Listening was down at all grades, though it remains the strongest test area in our district and above state performance levels.

§         Gains or losses in every area and grade level are similar to changes in state scores, with two exceptions.  At grade 7, math and listening scores decreased in Bellingham but increased slightly in the state.

 

2002 WASL Results for Bellingham School District as Compared to 2001

 

 

Reading

Math

Writing

Listening

Grade 4

Grade 7

Grade 10

scores increased              scores decreased                 scores unchanged

 

 

Grade 4 Results

 

§         Reading scores declined from 76.9 percent to 75.2 percent meeting or exceeding reading standards.  Although Bellingham’s reading scores have flattened out this year, the percent meeting or exceeding reading standards has increased 22.7 percentage points since 1997.

§         Math scores improved from 53.4 percent to 56.4 percent of students meeting or exceeding math standards.  Since 1997, the percent meeting or exceeding math standards has increased 27.3 percentage points.

§         Writing scores increased from 53.8 percent to 59.1 percent of students meeting or exceeding writing standards.

§         Writing scores have shown a continued increase over the past three years, gaining 19.3 percentage points since 1999.

§         Listening scores decreased from 80.5 percent to 74 percent of students meeting or exceeding listening standards.  Since 1997, listening scores have fluctuated between 70 and 80 percent.

 

Grade 7 Results

 

§         Reading scores increased from 52.2 percent to 56.5 percent meeting or exceeding standards.  Since 1998, the percent meeting or exceeding reading standards has increased 5.9 percentage points.

§         Math scores remained unchanged from last year.  Since 1998, the percent meeting or exceeding math standards has increased 6.2 percentage points.

§         Writing scores jumped from 54.2 percent to 61.8 percent of students meeting or exceeding writing standards.

§         Writing scores have gained 26.2 percentage points since 1997.

§         Listening scores declined from 90.9 percent to 87 percent of students meeting or exceeding listening standards.  Since 1998, listening scores have fluctuated between 85 and 91 percent.

 

Grade 10 Results

 

§         Reading scores declined from 72.7 percent to 64.7 percent meeting or exceeding reading standards.  Over the three years of WASL testing at grade 10, the percent meeting or exceeding reading standards has increased 6.9 percentage points.

§         Math scores declined to the lowest percentage since the first WASL administration at grade 10.  The percent meeting or exceeding math standards decreased 5.7 percentage points to 45.3 percent in 2002.

§         Writing scores increased from 54.8 percent to 61.3 percent of students meeting or exceeding writing standards.  Writing scores have gained 18.6 percentage points since 2000. 

§         Listening scores declined slightly, from 88.6 percent to 86.4 percent of students meeting or exceeding listening standards.  Since 1999, listening scores have increased 7.3 percentage points.

 

Participation in Testing

 

Participation in WASL testing at grade 4 ranged from 98.9 percent to 99.7 percent.  The lowest participation rate at grade 7 was in writing, at 96 percent.  Participation was lowest at grade 10, ranging from 89.2 percent in writing to 93.1 percent in math. (Counts are provided in Attachment 12.)

 

The number of students refusing to test increased at grades 7 and 10, including high school 20 students who refused to take all or parts of the WASL.  Six students refused to take the WASL at grade 7.

 

The impact of students not testing is most significant at grade 10.  The grade 10 students who were not tested in listening accounted for over half of those students who did not meet the listening standards.  Of the grade 10 students who did not meet the writing standards in 2002, 27.8 percent of those were not tested.  (See attachment 13.)

 

2001-02 WASL GENDER AND ETHNIC FINDINGS

 

Gender

 

Girls out-performed boys on all tests at every grade level except for the listening and math at grade 4.  The area of greatest discrepancy continues to be in writing, where girls scored at least 20 percentage points higher than boys in grades 4, 7, and 10.

 

The percent of girls meeting or exceeding the math standard at grade 7 increased to a rate nearly 5 percentage points higher than boys.  Girls performed better than boys on the grade 10 math WASL for the first time.

 

Ethnicity

 

American Indian students made gains at grade 4, outperforming all ethnic groups but White students in reading and writing.  American Indian students scored among the lowest of the ethnic groups at grades 7 and 10.  At grade 7, writing scores for American Indian students rose 17 percentage points, to 36.4 percent, but math scores fell to just 4.5 percent.

 

The percent of Hispanic students meeting or exceeding the standards in math at grade 4 rose 10 percentage points, to 28.8 percent.  Writing scores at grade 7 also increased significantly, to 48.8 percent.  Hispanic students remain, along with American Indians, the lowest performing ethnic group at all grade levels.

 

The African American population scored higher than Hispanic and American Indian students in most areas at grades 4, 7, and 10.  Because this population is so small, with fewer than 10 students testing at certain grades, it is difficult to accurately identify trends in performance.

 

The percent of Asian students meeting or exceeding standards in math declined to 44.9 percent at grade 4 and 43.6 percent at grade 10.  Asian student were the highest performing ethnic group in reading at grade 10, scoring 68.4 percent.  This group, along with White students, is the highest performing students at grades 7 and 10.

 

 

MEASURES OF IMPROVEMENT

 

Cohort Comparisons

 

Improvement on the WASL can be examined through cohort comparisons, to look for changes in performance of a group of students from one test administration to the next.  This is the second year that we have data to compare – grade 4 scores from 1998 to grade 7 scores of 2002, and grade 7 scores from 1998 to grade 10 scores of 2002.  This comparison is provided using all enrolled students at each grade level and is not a student cohort group.  This means that, for example, the students who took the grade 4 WASL in 1998 are not exactly the same students who took the grade 7 WASL in 2002.

 

Overall, these groups made gains in the percent of students meeting or exceeding standards in writing and listening from grade 4 to 7, and in reading, math, and writing from grade 7 to 10.  The direction of change (gain or loss) for these groups mirrored most of the changes seen in the 1997 to 2001 cohorts, though the amount of change was not as extreme.  The one exception was a gain of 22 percentage points in writing from grade 4 to grade 7.  (See attachment 14.)

 

Learning Index

 

Two subjects, reading and mathematics, have four levels of achievement on the WASL.  Accountability legislation in 1999 required the establishment of a Learning Index to measure improvement across all four levels of the WASL.  The index is based on a 0-4 point scale that is calculated using the percentage of students scoring at each level of the WASL.  This creates an improvement measure that looks beyond just the percent of students meeting standards, which can hide the progress made in moving students from level 1 to level 2, and from level 3 to level 4.

 

A comparison of the Learning Index from the 2001 WASL to 2002 (attachment 15) shows gains in both reading and math at grade 4, mixed results at grade 7, and losses in both reading and math at grade 10.

 

Reading and Math Improvement Goals

 

The Academic Achievement and Accountability Commission ruled that schools use 2001 WASL scores as a baseline to establish three-year goals in reading and math for grades 4, 7, and 10.  The goals, in both reading and math, are to see a 25 percent reduction in students not meeting standards by the 2003-2004 school WASL testing.  To meet these goals, targets for Year 1 to Year 3 have been calculated based on an incremental decrease in students not meeting standards over three years.  (See attachments 16-20.)

 

In reading, four elementary schools met or exceeded the Year 1 target for grade 4, though the district percentage fell short by 3.6 percentage points.   Reading is on target for grade 7 at the district level, as three middle schools were very near or exceeded the first year mark.  No high schools made sufficient progress in reading at grade 10, with the district percentage over 10 percentage points below the first year target.

 

Student performance in math across the district was slightly below the goal of 57.3 percent, though seven elementary schools met or exceeded their targets.  Math scores at grade 7 were flat, not seeing the 5 percentage point gains needed every year to make the 2003-2004 target.  Grade 10 math scores went down overall, leaving a 9.8 percentage point gap in the first year of progress toward the 2003-2004 goals.  One high school reached the first year target, gaining 7.2 percent meeting or exceeding standard in math in just one year.

 

 

SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS

 

As a district, we continue to use data to inform instructional decisions at system, building, classroom and student levels.  WASL data provides us with important information to further our learning improvement initiatives, enhance strategic planning efforts and support student learning.

 

Celebrations:

 

 

Disappointments:

 

 

Questions:

 

 

Next Steps: