Newly released results of the 2008 Washington Assessment of Student Learning show some significant gains in reading and science for Anacortes students while scores in math and writing held steady.

“We have some huge successes that I’m thrilled about. We have done some really good work,” said Cindy Simonsen, district director of learning and instruction.

Some of those successes include an increase of nearly 10 percentage points in the number of Anacortes High School 10th-graders passing science and a jump of 22 percentage points in the number of Fidalgo Elementary School sixth-graders passing reading.

One worry is a huge drop in the number of Island View Elementary School fourth-graders passing math — the number decreased by a whopping 27 percentage points to just 35 percent passing.

“Certainly we’re going to look at details and figure out how can we help,” Simonsen said.

Beyond the test scores, she said the worry is there is a group of students who need significant math help.

“If they do, we need to figure out how to help them soon,” she said.

This year the district also grappled with fewer 10th-graders taking the test.

“We’re required to have a certain percentage take the test or we don’t make (adequate yearly progress). I was actually nervous when I started seeing the numbers,” Simonsen said.

High school students are now required to pass the reading and writing portions of the WASL to graduate. The science and math portions were delayed as a graduation requirement until the class of 2013.

The district is required to have 95 percent of 10th-graders take the test. She said if 4 percent don’t show up, then that 4 percent get zeros.

“And that affects your scores,” she said.

Principals called students and even picked them up and drove them to school to make sure they were there for the WASL.

“They had basically an all-points bulletin out on kids,” Simonsen said.

Now it’s up to district leaders to find out why students didn’t show up.

“I want to make sure all kids get an education and we want to find out why those kids did not take the test,” she said.

The district’s scores continue to remain above state averages in almost all areas and, compared to other districts in the state, Anacortes has high scores.

“I’m pretty impressed by the work our teachers have done,” Simonsen said. “We’ve got some good stuff going on.”

Math scores for fifth-graders are in the top six in the state and science scores are in the top five.

District third-grade math scores are in the top 19 in the state and in the top eight with comparable and larger districts. In reading the district third-graders are in the top seven.

At the middle school, one third of the students got a four in math, which is exceeding standards. The percentage of students scoring a four in math was higher than any other score.

“We feel like we’re doing a good job moving our kids along that are really good in math,” Simonsen said.

Forty percent of seventh-graders got a four in writing.

Forty-nine percent of seventh-graders passed all three sections (reading, math and writing) and 51 percent of eight-graders passed all three sections (reading, math and science).

“That’s good news for us that the bulk of our kids are passing multiple subjects,” Simonsen said.

At the high school, 90 percent of 10th-graders passed reading or writing. Simonsen predicts a pretty high percentage passed both.

To see the Anacortes School District’s report card, visit http://reportcard.ospi.k12.wa.us/summary.aspx?year=2007-08.

• Anacortes High School saw a significant jump in the number of 10th-graders who passed the science portion of the WASL, while results in reading, math and writing stayed about the same. Students were above state average in every subject.

This year, 47.3 percent of sophomores passed the science portion, up nearly 10 percentage points from 2006-2007 when 37.7 percent passed.

This year, 82.4 percent passed reading compared to 82.6 who passed last year; this year 54.7 percent passed math, down slightly from 55.3 percent last year; and this year 86.6 percent passed writing, up from 84.3 percent last year.

At the state level, 39.7 percent passed science this year, 81.3 percent passed reading, 49.3 percent passed math and 86.2 percent passed writing.

• Anacortes Middle School saw decreases in the number of students passing every subject but remained above the state averages.

This year, 67.3 percent of seventh-graders passed reading, down from 72.6 percent last year; this year 54.3 percent passed math, down 6 percentage points from last year when 60.5 percent passed; and this year 76 percent passed writing, down from 80.9 percent last year.

Seventh-graders scored above the state results in all three categories. At the state level, 62.8 percent passed reading, 50.3 percent passed math and 69.7 percent passed writing.

Eighth-graders’ scores dropped this year compared to last year’s class. This year 65.7 percent passed reading, a drop of 10 percentage points from the 75.7 percent who passed last year; this year 60.3 percent passed math, down slightly from 61.1 percent last year; and this year 55.1 percent passed science, down 13 percentage points from last year’s 68.1 percent passing.

Even with the lower scores, eight-graders’ scores were near or above state results. At the state level, 65.9 percent passed reading, 51.5 percent passed math and 47.9 percent passed science.

• Fidalgo Elementary School got mixed results in the WASL scores with some areas showing increases in the number of students passing and others decreases. The greatest success was the sixth-grade reading scores, which jumped 22 percentage points compared to last year’s class.

This year, 85.9 percent of Fidalgo third-graders passed reading compared to 90 percent last year; and this year 91.5 percent passed math, an increase from 84.3 percent last year.

Scores were significantly higher than the state results. At the state level, 70.4 percent passed reading and 68.3 percent passed math.

Fourth-graders made good progress in writing, with 84.9 percent passing this year, up nearly 9 percentage points from the 76.2 passing last year; this year 87.7 percent passed reading compared to 88.9 percent passing last year; and 78.1 percent passed math this year compared to 77.8 percent last year.

Again, Fidalgo scores were higher than the state results. At the state level, 72.3 percent passed reading, 53.4 percent passed math and 62.1 percent passed writing.

Fifth-graders showed great improvement in math and science scores and held steady in reading. This year, 86.3 percent passed reading compared to 85.3 percent last year; 79.5 percent passed math, up about 9 percentage points from the 70.7 percent passing last year; and this year 72.6 percent passed science, a more than 12 percentage point increase from the 60 percent last year.

Fidalgo scores were much higher than the state results. At the state level, 75.3 percent passed reading, 61 percent passed math and 42.9 percent passed science.

This year, the greatest jump was among Fidalgo’s sixth-grade reading scores. This year, 88.8 percent passed reading, up a whopping 22 percentage points from the 66.7 passing last year. This year, 75 percent passed math, up from 68.1 percent last year.

These scores were much higher than the state results. At the state level, 68.6 percent passed reading and 48.9 percent passed math.

• Island View Elementary School also saw a mixed bag of results. The biggest worry is a decrease of 27 percentage points in the number of fourth-graders passing math, from 62.2 percent last year to just 35 percent passing this year.

This year, 77.2 percent of third-graders passed reading, up from 74.3 percent last year; and 72.2 percent passed math, also up from 70.3 percent last year. Scores were above state results.

Island View fourth-graders saw a huge decrease in students passing math, with just 35 percent passing this year, down a whopping 27 points from 62.2 percent last year. Reading scores also went down, 61.3 percent passed this year compared to 81.1 percent last year, a drop of nearly 20 points. Writing scores stayed nearly the same, with 53.2 percent passing this year compared to 52.7 percent passing last year.

The math scores were more than 18 percentage points below the state scores. Reading and writing were both also below state results.

This year 82.8 percent of Island View fifth-graders passed reading compared to 83.1 percent last year; 71.9 percent passed math this year compared to 62.7 percent this year; and 64.1 percent passed science this year, up a significant 14 percentage points from the 49.4 percent passing last year. Scores were above state results.

This year, 73.6 percent of Island View sixth-graders passed reading compared to 76.4 percent last year; and 55.2 percent passed math this year compared to 60 percent last year. Scores were above state results.

• Mount Erie Elementary School similarly saw WASL score increases and decreases across the board, with its fourth-grade scores dropping the most and its fifth-grade scores seeing the most improvement. All scores were above state results.

This year, 85.4 percent of third-graders passed reading compared to 86.1 percent last year; and 81.3 percent passed math, down slightly from 84.7 percent last year.

This year, 76.4 percent of fourth-graders passed reading, down from 92.9 percent last year; 68.1 percent passed math this year, down from 84.3 percent last year; and 66.7 percent passed writing this year, down 19 percentage points from 85.7 passing last year.

This year, 92.3 percent of fifth-graders passed reading, up from 86.5 percent last year; this year 92.3 percent passed math, up more than 15 percentage points from 76.9 passing last year; and 82.1 percent passed math this year compared to 73.1 percent last year.

This year, 87 percent of sixth-graders passed reading compared to 86.8 percent last year; and 74.1 percent passed math, up from 67.1 percent last year.