On March 15th the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction released the latest data on school performance across the state. Known as the Washington School Improvement Framework (WSIF), this index evaluates the performance of every school in the state by generating a score based on the percentage of their students passing the state Smarter Balance tests in English and math, making progress towards passing these tests, and other indicators, as described here.

Lawmakers are now deciding whether in the 2023-25 budget they will fund intensive tutoring for students hurt academically by the Inslee-ordered school shutdowns.  I thought it would be helpful to use the state data to show how desperate the situation is for students attending the lowest-scoring 120 schools on the state’s performance metric, the WSIF. 

The shutdown did deep and lasting harm to students.  Additional tutoring resources will help, but in the long-term students need access to wider educational choices based on what parents think is best, especially for children whom local officials assign to these low-performing schools.  That is what caring legislators in other states are doing, to the direct benefit of children living in their states.