Electric Fishwrap

By KATE MARTIN

Skagit Valley Herald staff writer

MOUNT VERNON — Counselors and the principal of Mount Vernon High School hunched Tuesday over stacks of paper filled with tables of information regarding the 2008 graduating class.

They were going over data about the 2008 graduating class that was released Tuesday by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

More than 91 percent of seniors statewide have passed the Washington Assessment for Student Learning, according to OSPI. This is the first year that seniors must pass the reading and writing part of the test to graduate.

“It’s just a beautiful victory,” state Superintendent Terry Bergeson said Tuesday while presenting the spring WASL results.

Bergeson said she was most excited about the accomplishments of low income students and members of ethnic groups that have struggled to meet state standards.

Nearly 87 percent of low income students have passed both the reading and writing WASL or fulfilled requirements of an approved alternative. About 85 percent of American Indian seniors, 86 percent of black seniors, 84 percent of Hispanic seniors and 86 percent of native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander seniors met the standard.

Those numbers do not include the nearly 15,000 students who started with the statewide class of 2008 as freshmen but have dropped out of school since.

Results were not available for most Skagit County districts Tuesday, as administrators sorted through the data.

Principal Dave Anderson was among those checking and cross-checking spreadsheets filled with data of test scores, names and class data to verify who will graduate.

The task is frustrating, Anderson said, because some OSPI data doesn’t match the school’s information.

“We’ve had students who have had name changes for some reason,” he said. “Name changes are not recorded with OSPI the way they are recorded with us.”

Anderson cloistered nine counselors and the district’s assessment director in his office to frantically scan the data Tuesday.

Mount Vernon’s graduation is this Friday.

“I’m not even afraid to say this: We’re scrambling,” Anderson said. “But our goal is to make sure we are accurate with every single student.”

The School Board anticipated this graduation crunch earlier this year and voted to allow students who have completed every requirement except the WASL to participate in the ceremony. Only when test scores come back will they receive a diploma.

Class of 2008 students still have two more opportunities to make the grade: the August high school WASL and the June submission of a “collection of evidence,” an alternative way of satisfying the requirement.

Student Erin Shanahan, who has excelled in her final semester at Mount Vernon, is one of those caught in the crossfire. She has taken the reading WASL at least five times.

Tuesday, she found out that she’d failed yet again.

“That was really hard on me,” she said.

Shanahan has met the rest of the graduation requirements. She earned the credits, completed a senior project and has her high-school-and beyond plan. The WASL is all that stands between her and a diploma.

She and about 20 other students are in a collection of-evidence class. But they won’t find out the scores for that until well after Friday’s graduation.

“It sucks because I want to get my diploma and graduate with my classmates and my friends,” she said.

Joey Garrison, 19, said the WASL cut back on his social opportunities in high school.

“I’ve taken musical classes like band and choir since the sixth grade, and it’s become my family,” he said.

But Garrison has had to drop those electives, especially this year, to pass the state test.

“It really does suck,” he said. “Every summer I’ve spent training for the math WASL, and last year I took extra math and English classes. … I don’t want to say it’s prevented the fun I’ve had in high school, but it stopped me from seeing my friends as much and enjoying high school to the fullest.”

David Scott, the district’s assessment director, said of the 20 or so students who needed the WASL to pass, only seven did not pass. Those students will submit a collection of evidence to OSPI and will receive results this summer.

Ten students from Anacortes High School found out they had passed the spring WASL, Principal Pam Estvold said. Only one student has not met the requirement, but Estvold said the district will petition to OSPI on her behalf because life circumstances prevented her from taking the test.

Meanwhile, Bergeson’s message to those who won’t graduate this year: Keep trying.

“Don’t give up. You can stay with us this summer. You can stay for another year. It’s worth it to get the skills you need for the future,” she said.

Originally published June 4, 2008.