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               Test Score Targets for SLC's

      "...International students have outperformed both Bellevue School District and state averages on the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills given to eighth graders every fall."

             --Marsha King-- The Seattle Times

    What happens when a school requires a grade of "C" or better before a student is promoted to the next level?

    What happens to student achievement when a school culture holds all participants to high levels of accountability?

    This thirteen year record of test scores charts the performance of two small public schools of choice that my colleagues and I developed within existing districts: Lake Washington International School (1997), and Bellevue International School (1991).

    These scores are paired with district and state level scores on the same tests. Since the enrollment at both programs matched the demographics of larger in-district programs, these scores show what small schools with effective cultures can accomplish relative to their peers.

    I share scores only up to 2001, my last year at Lake Washington International. I Include the Bellevue 2001 score because these are the results for students I had as 7th graders in 1997 who, after a full year in my Humanities program, moved forward to the 2001 testing window. These cohorts were the last beneficiaries of the writing and humanities curriculum described in this website.

    These results were achieved well before the test score inflation that we observe today. More recent results can be found at OSPI, as well as in Newsweek, which has consistently ranked one or another of these programs in the top ten percent of schools in the United States--since 2003.

    I invite you to follow the links in this website in order to learn more about why the programs we established were so successful.

WASL 2001 10th Grade
Writing Math Reading Listening
Washington State Avg. 46.7 38.9 62.4 84.0
Lk. Wash. International 94.9 100 100 100
Lk. Wash. S.D. #414 64.7 59.9 77.4 91.7

WASL 2001 7th Grade
Writing Math Reading Listening
Washington State Avg. 48.5 27.4 39.8 82.5
Lk. Wash. International 91.5 87.2 85 100
Lk. Wash. S.D. #414 68.3 47.2 59.1 92.7

    ITED/CTBS 2001 9th Gr.
Reading Expression Quant. Core
Washington State Avg. 53 54 59 57
Lk. Wash. International 89 88 90 91
Lk. Wash. S.D. #414 70 69 73 72

    WASL 2000 10th Grade
Writing Math Reading Listening
Washington State Avg. 31.7 35.0 59.8 77.8
Lk. Wash. International 81 100 100 100
Lk. Wash. S.D. #414 52.9 58.9 75.7 86.7
Bellevue International 74.1 96.3 98.1 100
Bellevue S.D. #405 53.5 61.0 80 85.7

    WASL 2000 7th Grade
Writing Math Reading Listening
Washington State Avg. 42.6 28.2 41.5 79.6
Lk. Wash. International 87 57.9 77.6 93.4
Lk. Wash. S.D. #414 59 46.7 59.3 89.9
Bellevue International 80.5 68.8 75.3 96.1
Bellevue S.D. #405 56.9 49.4 62.4 86.2

    ITBS 2000 8th Gr.
Reading Expression Quant. Core
Washington State Avg. 54 55 60 58
Lk. Wash. International 90 87 87 90
Lk. Wash. S.D. #414 69 69 74 72
Bellevue International 87 83 88 88
Bellevue S.D. #405 72 71 75 74

    WASL 1999
Writing Math Reading Listening
Washington State Avg. 37 24 41 87
Lk. Wash. International 81 84 89 100.0
Lk. Wash. S.D. #414 55 42 60 94
Bellevue International 72 72 86 99
Bellevue S.D. #405 57 46 59 91

    ITBS 1999 8th Gr.
Reading Lang/Arts Math Core
Washington State Avg. 52 52 56 54
Lk. Wash. International 88 83 76 85
Lk. Wash. S.D. #414 66 64 65 66
Bellevue International 82 79 76 80
Bellevue S.D. #405 67 67 67 68

                     ITED 1999 11th.
Reading Quant.
Washington State Avg. 57 60
Bellevue International 91 92
Bellevue S.D. #405 68 73

    WASL 1998
Writing Math Reading Listening
Washington State Avg. 31 20 38 80
Lk. Wash. International 66 48 67 97
Lk. Wash. S.D. #414 41 32 54 90
Bellevue International 58 62 79 97
Bellevue S.D. #405 46 36 55 90

    CFAS 1997 11th Grade
English/LA History Math Science
Washington State Avg. 50 49 53 53
Bellevue International 78 75 76 78
Bellevue S.D. #405 58 58 65 62

    CFAS 1996 11th Grade
English/LA History Math Science
Washington State Avg. 51 50 53 53
Bellevue International 85 83 77 84
Bellevue S.D. #405 62 61 70 65

    CFAS 1995 11th Grade
English/LA History Math Science
Washington State Avg. 51 50 52 52
Bellevue International 83 84 63 65
Bellevue S.D. #405 61 59 65 60

    1993 CTBS
Reading Lang. Soc. St. Science
Washington State Avg. 58 52 57 57
Bellevue International 82 80 83 80
Bellevue School Dist. #414 68 65 68 65

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