Students all over Washington faced new, more rigorous state tests covering new, higher state standards in English Language Arts and Mathematics during the 2014-15 school year. Results in Lake Washington School District (LWSD) showed that district students continue to perform well on state standardized tests.

“Lake Washington continues to perform at a rate significantly higher than the state average,” noted Dr. Traci Pierce, superintendent. “In most grades, our success rate at meeting the new standard was about 25 percent higher than the state average. I am especially pleased that in many grades and subjects, over 50 percent of students scored at an advanced level.”

Students in grades 3-8 and in grades 10-11 took the new Smarter Balanced Assessments in English Language Arts and in Math. In grades 3-8 English Language Arts, the percent of LWSD students meeting the new standards ranged from 79 percent in 3rd and 6th grade to a high of 84 percent in 5th grade. At the state level, the percent of students meeting the standard in English Language Arts ranged from 52 percent in grade 3 to a high of 58 percent in grade 5. (See the chart below for scores for each grade level.)

In grades 3-8 Math, the percent of LWSD students meeting the standard ranged from 70 percent in 6th grade to a high of 80 percent in 3rd grade. At the state level, the percent of students meeting standard ranged from 46 percent in grades 6 and 8 to 57 percent in grade 3.

“These initial results are encouraging,” noted Dr. Pierce. “Principals and teachers in our district have worked hard for the last three years to understand the new state standards and to help students achieve at a higher level.”

Science scores continued to be measured in 5th and 8th grades by the Measurements of Student Progress. In LWSD, 86.7 percent of 5th grade students met the standard in 2015, up from 85.1 percent in 2014. At the state level, 5th grade scores fell from 66.8 percent at standard in 2014 to 63.3 percent at standard in 2015.

In 8th grade science, 83.3 percent of LWSD students met the standard, compared to 86.9 percent in 2014. Eighth grade scores also fell at the state level, to 60.6 percent in 2015 from 67.2 percent in 2014.

Students in 10th grade took the Smarter Balanced English Language Arts test to satisfy a graduation requirement. About 91 percent of LWSD 10th grade students met the career and college ready standard. Those students will not have to take the test again in 11th grade. A total of 94 percent of LWSD 10th grade students met the graduation requirement cut-off score set by the state Board of Education, a slightly lower score.

Many of this year’s 11th grade students in LWSD declined to take either Smarter Balanced test. Most of these students met their graduation requirements for state assessments in 10th grade and therefore did not need to pass the test this year for graduation.

While LWSD met the federal requirement that 95 percent of students enrolled in a grade take the state test at all other grades, fewer than 15 percent of 11th grade students took either test. Because of the 11th grade refusal rate, neither LWSD nor the state met the federal participation requirement.

Students who did not take the 11th grade test counted against their school’s and the district’s scores. Because of a 79 to 80 percent rate of students who did not take the test, the 11th grade scores primarily reflect students who did not test, rather than students who took the test and did not pass it.

Biology End of Course exam results are not yet available.