POULSBO — North Kitsap sophomores will soon be getting a look at the long-awaited, graduation-weighted reading, writing and math scores from the Washington State Assesment of Learning.

Beginning with this year’s sophomore class of 2008, all Washington state high school students will be required to meet the state standard in each of those three sections of the WASL in order to graduate.

Preliminary numbers released by the Washington State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction — which show a continued statewide struggle with mathematics, despite improvements in reading and writing — sparked heartburn among North Kitsap School District board directors at their June 8 meeting.

Preliminary percentages of NKHS students who met standard as a whole are not being released because they are not yet official through the OSPI. However, official statewide tallies reflect that nearly 50 percent of students did not meet standard in the math portion of the test. (See gray box for exact statewide numbers. Page A3.)

But more than 80 percent of statewide students met or exceeded the standard on the reading and writing portions of the test.

“Bottom line is they have to pass all three, (As it stands) a lot of kids are not going to graduate unless they meet that standard,” said NKSD director Dan Delaney. “This is the moment we’ve all been waiting for, when I said ‘it was gonna hit the fan.’”

Individual WASL report cards will be mailed out to North Kitsap sophomore students and parents June 12, said NKSD assistant director of teaching and learning and districtwide WASL coordinator Dixie Husser.

In a WASL campaign shrouded by protective layers, this is the earliest point in the year that parents have received WASL reports, according to the OSPI Web site. Since the test is now a requirement for graduation and some students may need additional training or summer school in order to meet standard, the OSPI released individual reports for students and preliminary percentages for schools June 8.

“By the end of (the class of 2008) senior year, you’ll have at least 90 percent meeting standard in math,” Husser told the school board. “Because in the report it lays out for (students) the areas of their strengths and weaknesses. These scores should be used as an instructional tool.”

NKHS sophomores who did not meet the standard in either the reading, writing or math sections of the WASL will be allowed to take advantage of summer school help classes free of charge through the NKSD. Check www.nksd.wednet.edu for more information.

GRAY BOX:

Preliminary NKHS number meeting WASL standard

Sophmores

Reading

521 tested booklets 446 met standard 32 near miss

(76.7 percent met standard in 2005)

Writing

523 tested booklets 442 met standard 23 near miss

(64.7 percent met standard in 2005)

Math

519 tested booklets 302 met standard 47 near miss

(45.6 percent met standard in 2005)

Statewide

Sophomores

Reading

71,136 tested booklets 60,873 met standard

(72.4 percent met standard in 2005)

Writing

70,812 tested booklets 59,196 met standard

(64.7 percent met standard in 2005)

Math

70,225 tested booklets 37,866 met standard

(47.1 percent met standard in 2005)