How did our kids do? Standardized test scores are out

• AYP: Adequate Yearly progress: Sets a federal standard for accountability, which measures states, schools and districts by the results of state-level tests in math and reading. AYP measures the academic performance of all students, including subgroups such as children whose families qualify as low-income. The goal is for all students reach 100 percent proficiency in math and reading, beginning in 2014. Schools with even one student who does not meet the standard do not meet AYP.

• CCSS: Common Core State Standards are consistent standards in English language arts and math that define the knowledge and skills students need to master to be prepared for college and career opportunities.

• ELA: English Language Arts courses including writing, reading and literature.

• EOC: End-of-Course exams: Math and biology tests taken as students finish Algebra 1/Integrated Math 1, Geometry/Integrated math 2, and biology.

• HSPE: High School Proficiency Exams. Reading and writing tests for students through the Class of 2016.

• IEP: Individualized Education Program for students with significant cognitive challenges.

• MSP: Measurements of Student Progress: Science test for grades 5 and 8.

• OSPI: Office of Superintendent of State Instruction, the superintendent of the state’s K-12 public schools.

• SBA: Smarter Balanced Assessment is a comprehensive system designed to measure how well students are learning the Washington State K-12 Standards in English language arts and math.

• WA-AIM: Washington — Access to Instruction and Measurement. English language arts, math and science alternative assessments for students with significant cognitive challenges documented in their Individualized Education Program.

Source: OSPI

The results of most standardized testing were released by the state Monday. Statewide, about half of students from grades 3 to 8 were considered proficient in English language arts and math.

Clark County children achieved similar results, including in the county’s two largest school districts, Vancouver and Evergreen. Districtwide, 50.6 percent of Vancouver students met the standard in English language arts and 42 percent met the standard in math. The Evergreen district’s numbers were a tad lower, with 47.8 percent meeting the English language arts standard and 41.9 percent meeting the math standard.

Camas students, who typically have higher test scores, continued to do better. In Camas, 73.1 percent of students met the English language arts standard, while 63.9 percent met the math standard.

Battle Ground’s middle school students did very well on the science assessment. Nearly 70 percent of fifth-graders met the standard and 64.9 percent of eighth-graders met the standard.

Additionally, each district’s results can be broken down by individual school and grade level. Some schools had much better scores. Those included CAM Academy in Battle Ground, where 94.9 percent of seventh-graders met the standard in English language arts and 88 percent in math. At Washougal’s Cape Horn Skye Elementary, 79.2 percent of fifth-graders met the standard in English language arts and 80.5 percent showed proficiency in math.

Opting out

The most alarmingly low numbers throughout the state were likely for high school juniors in both English language arts and math. About 50 percent of juniors statewide opted out of taking the tests. That means they received a score of zero. All of those goose eggs dragged down the scores. Statewide, only 26 percent met proficiency in English language arts and a mere 14 percent met proficiency in math.

In Clark County schools, the scores were similar. The most dismal 11th-grade scores in both English language arts and math were in Battle Ground, where 61.1 percent of 11th-graders opted out of the English language arts test and 75.1 percent opted out of the math test. That skewed the district’s numbers, which showed only 7.9 percent of juniors met the standard in math.

“We knew the opt-out would happen,” said Sean Chavez, district spokesman.

“It was a perfect storm,” he added, citing the political climate and some pushback against standardized testing in Battle Ground. The hundreds of students who opted out of the tests added many zeroes to Battle Ground’s overall scores.

“”We don’t know where those kids would have landed (if they’d taken the tests),” Chavez said.

He added that for schools to meet Adequate Yearly Progress goals, the federal guidelines require a 95 percent participation rate in the tests. He said that there would have to be a conversation between the federal and state governments about that.

Overall, Randy Dorn, the state superintendent of public instruction, said he was pleased with the test results.

“The results are good. We’re definitely moving in the right direction. A lot of students reached proficiency. This is a much higher expectation. It’s much more rigorous standards.”

Although he said the test scores went down with the more rigorous test, “the learning went up.”

Graduating from high school is “way more difficult than it was just four years ago,” Dorn said at a press conference Monday morning.

Compared with four years ago, today’s high school students must take one more year of math, English and science, he said. He added that no students fail the so-called Smarter Balanced tests, but the tests are an indicator of where a student is at a point in time. Schools use the scores to place students in the courses they need to become proficient and move ahead.

The state will release scores for the biology end-of-course exams later, Dorn said.