Snoqualmie Valley students excel on state writing test
December 30, 2009
By Laura Geggel
NEW — 2:41 p.m. Dec. 30, 2009
Mount Si High School sophomores Cameron Shand and Abbi Smith write in their journals during language arts class. Elementary, middle and high school students now take writing assessments to prepare them for standardized tests. (Photo by Laura Geggel)
Snoqualmie Valley’s students have written themselves into top place.
Every spring, students in grades four, seven and 10 take a standardized writing test — up until 2009 it was called the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, or WASL.
Out of all of the school districts in King County, Snoqualmie Valley sophomores ranked first on the 2009 writing WASL.
Of the sophomores, 96.5 percent passed the writing WASL. Valley seventh graders ranked second with 90 percent passing — just behind Mercer Island — and fourth graders placed third in the county with 78.5 percent passing.
The Valley didn’t always have such a high percentage of passing students.
In 1999, only 50 percent of Mount Si High School sophomores passed the writing WASL.
Much of the success is owed to Mount Si language arts teacher and part-time teacher on special assignment John Pinsker, a dedicated group of writing teachers in Snoqualmie Valley School District and, of course, the students themselves.
Pinsker first came to Mount Si in 1998.
At his previous job at Centralia Middle School, he had learned how to conduct grade-wide writing assessments.
His timing could not have been better. The state began testing sophomores with the writing WASL in 1999.
By 2003, he helped implement a freshman writing assessment.
Pinsker and other Mount Si teachers gave every freshman a writing assessment with questions similar to those from the WASL.
The district gave the language arts department $1,500 to pay for assessment materials and for substitutes, so teachers could spend a day grading the assessments together.
Teachers were immediately clued into how best to score standardized writing assignments and soon learned how to better prepare students for the WASL.
“I think we’re not just teaching the test,” Mount Si teacher Toni Canady said. “We’re teaching great writing.”
The more students completed assessments, the more familiar they became with writing standards and the testing environment.
Mount Si junior Dan Ryan said the assessments helped his writing.
“Ms. Canady, she taught the way they want the paragraph, so I kept on writing that paragraph until it was easy,” Ryan said.
As for testing preparation, “the (assessment) prepares you by making it the same as the WASL, so it’s just as hard, but no pressures,” Ryan said.
Since 2003, the assessment program has blossomed. Freshmen now have biannual assessments, sophomores take fall assessments and juniors take spring assessments. Elementary and middle school teachers requested assessment programs, as well.
Twin Falls Middle School Teacher Janet Munson said grading assessments with her colleagues gave them common grading language and specific learning targets.
“The results are higher WASL scores and consistency in how we talk about and teach writing…Teachers are able to score consistently and obtain diagnostic information to help students set goals and to plan instruction,” Munson wrote in an e-mail. “This time together also open doors of communication between schools and promotes the cross district sharing of materials and teaching strategies.”
Like other teachers, Cascade View Elementary School teacher Laurie Heinz conferences individually with each student after assessments are scored.
Even with 96.5 percent of sophomores passing the writing WASL, Pinsker has higher hopes for the future.
“The goal for the language arts department is 100 percent,” Pinsker said. “People were saying, ‘you can’t do that.’ We said, ‘we don’t care. If you don’t think students can do it, which ones are you going to let go? Shouldn’t we have something to reach for?’”
Laura Geggel: 392-6434 ext. 221, or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com.
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