Washington students perform well on SAT

Did you know that Washington State’s education system has long led the U.S. in Scholastic Aptitude Test scores among states in which more than 50% of the students take this college readiness exam? It’s true.

Based on the scores of the nearly 39,000 high school seniors who took the S.A.T. in 2011, Washington State attained an average combined score in reading, writing, and mathematics of 520, just ahead of the second-highest state, New Hampshire—the ninth consecutive school year that Washington has led in combined average SAT score among states with more than 50% of its students taking the SAT. Moreover, almost 4,000 more students took the SAT in Washington last spring compared to 2010, an increase of 13 percent.

The percentage of students taking the SAT is important, because the higher percentage of students who take the test, the lower the scores tend to be. In other words, the easiest way for a state to obtain high SAT scores is to encourage only a small percentage of select students to take it. For example, Iowa, North Dakota, and South Dakota may be able to brag about higher SAT test scores—but only three percent of their students took the test in 2009. By contrast, 57% of a much more racially diverse population in Washington State took the SAT last spring, a higher participation rate than all Western States (except Hawaii).

Washington State has particularly shined in mathematics on SAT comparisons with states that have more than fifty percent participation. State learning standards are much more rigorous than those of many other states. Because Washington’s standards are more demanding, a smaller percentage of students pass its state tests compared to some other states. On paper, those lower passing rates make it appear as though its education system isn’t preparing students as well, but when one examines national-level tests, Washington’s students shine.

Another way that Washington students perform well compared to other states is through the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) assessment. Washington regularly scores among the top tier of states in the very rigorous NAEP, much higher than many states which have very high pass rates on their own particular, state-specific tests. In other words, a much higher percentage of Alabama students pass their state’s mathematics assessment than Washington students passing Washington’s assessment, but Washington students far outperform Alabama’s students in both the SAT and the NAEP.

The federal education law, commonly known as No Child Left Behind, makes no distinction about the rigor of the different state assessments when labeling schools as successful or not. Thus, many more schools in Washington are labeled as “in need of improvement” or even as failures compared to schools in Alabama, even though those same students in Washington far outperform their peers in Alabama. That’s because Alabama—and many other states, for that matter—have far easier tests than Washington, especially in mathematics.

Among Washington State students, White Salmon Valley School District students perform well by the time they graduate from high school. Last school year, the state required new “End-of-Course” (EOC) mathematics exams for high school students. This was the third change in the state mathematics assessment within the past five years, creating a big challenge for classroom teachers trying to prepare students for what can seem like a “moving target.” WSVSD students passed the EOC Year One assessments at a rate of 75.9 percent, compared to the statewide average of 66.2 percent. Teachers throughout the earlier grades are striving to teach all students at a high level of rigor so that our students will be prepared for these assessments in high school.

The community’s support for our school’s efforts is crucial, never more so than in this period of economic downturn, when it seems every six months the state announces that it is cutting public education funding yet again. Teachers at Henkle Middle School are using excellent textbooks and other resources to help students learn these rigorous mathematics standards. The only reason our students have these texts in their hands is because of the local tax levy, which provides the district $65,000 a year for curriculum materials. Moreover, the community has supported “Early Release” Wednesdays, which give teachers the opportunity to collaborate on strategies to use these materials in the most effective way possible—and early releases do not cost the district or taxpayers any money at all. In fact, those early releases save money, because they lessen the need for teachers to need substitute teachers in order to accomplish that planning and training.

Many White Salmon Valley School District students move on to enjoy fine careers in the “STEM” professions—science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Every one of those successes, because of the local support for schools, strong family involvement, and hard work by the teachers and students—belongs to all the community, working together to help our students thrive.