INDICATORS

EARLY LEARNING

K-12

K-12 STATE TESTING

•2.3.1 State Testing: Math •2.3.2 State Testing: English Language Arts

K-12 FUNDING

HIGHER EDUCATION

EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT

EDUCATION

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2.3.1 Share of Students Meeting Math Standards as Measured by the Smarter Balance Assessment (SBA)

Why is this important?

Public school students in Washington State are no strangers to standardized testing. What is perhaps most unfamiliar is the name these tests are referred to. In recent years, standardized testing has been called the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL), the Measurement of Student Progress (MSP), and the High School Proficient Exam (HSPE). Beginning in the spring of the 2014-2015 school year, students have been required to take Smarter Balance Assessment (SBA) tests in math, as well in English Language Arts (ELA). SBA directly reflects the Common Core Standards, which have been adopted by Washington State. A major path for students to be able to graduate from high school is to meet standards of the SBA tests. See this Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) page for more detail on assessments.

The Common Core provides standards of “what a student should know and be able to do at the end of each grade. The standards were created to ensure that all students graduate from high school with the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in college, career, and life, regardless of where they live.”

The Smarter Balanced Assessment is computerized, allowing students with a better knowledge of the subject to face increasingly difficult questions; additionally, students who might not be as proficient will receive less difficult questions. The difficulty level of each question is weighted in the final score. Tougher questions answered incorrectly won’t negatively affect the final score as much as an easy question answered wrongly. The tests also have specialized features for English language learners so they can truly be tested on what they know when excluding language barriers.

There are four Smarter Balanced Assessment score categories: Level 1 - does not meet the grade-level performance standard; Level 2 - nearly meets grade-level performance standards; Level 3 - meets grade-level performance standards; and Level 4 - exceeds grade-level performance standards.

This indicator measures the share of both 4th and 10th grade public school students in Walla Walla County who were meeting or exceeding math standards (Achievement Levels 3 & 4) based on the Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBA). Washington State is offered as a benchmark. Additional information, including data for 7th graders, a breakdown by school districts in Walla Walla County, and historical data previous to the SBA, can be found in the “Download Data” section.

Where are we?

During the 2023-2024 school year, the share of 4th graders meeting or exceeding math standards on the SBA in:

Walla Walla County was 39.9%, increasing from 30.3% since the 2014-2015 school year.
Washington State was 47.8%, decreasing from 55.2% since the 2014-2015 school year.

During the 2023-2024 school year, the share of 10th graders who were meeting or exceeding math standards on the SBA in:

Walla Walla County was 34.1%, decreasing from 32.5% since the 2017-2018 school year.
Washington State was 29.9%, decreasing from 40.6% since the 2017-2018 school year.

Data Sources

Assessment data for the SBAC can be found at the Washington State OSPI website. Click here to go to the Data Portal.

Select "Report Card Assessment Data" for the desired school year, select "Export," and your desired format.
Filter "Organization Level" to "District" & "School," "County" to "Walla Walla," "Student Group" to "All Students," "Grade Level" to "4" & "10," "Test Administration" to "SBAC," and "Test Subject" to "Math."
Select desired district/s in column G (District Name).
To calculate the percentage of students who met the Math standard, refer to columns U (Count Met Standard) and S (Count of Students Expected to Test). Divide U by S to calculate the percentage.
To find statewide data: Clear the filter on the county column, then filter "Organization Level" to "State."

Note:

2019-2020 data was unavailable due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Combined Counties section of this indicator includes the following school districts:

The data visualization on this webpage may not be fully accessible for persons with disabilities. However, the source data will download in a file by clicking on the "Download Data" link above. If you would like assistance downloading the file or be provided a copy of the information on this webpage, please contact us at dpjones@ewu.edu.