Education: Achievement gap

What does this measure?

This indicator is based on student performance on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL). The WASL was developed to measure how well students are progressing in meeting state academic standards.
The achievement gap represents the difference between the percent of all students meeting the WASL standard and the percent of low-income students who meet that standard. If the achievement gap decreases, low-income students are "catching up" to the general student population.

Why is it important?

Achievement gap analyses provide a look beyond the average achievement of all students and allow comparisons to a subset of students who, on average as a group, have struggled academically.
It is a measure of how well (or poorly) our education system is addressing these historical challenges and meeting the needs of individual students.

How is Washington doing?

The achievement gap in math has been relatively stable over the past several years.
The reading achievement gap has declined since 2003, but was slightly up again to 12 percent in 2007.

What is state government’s role?

State funding makes up almost 70 percent of school districts revenues. This funding pays for a number of basic services that are delivered by local school districts, including regular classroom instruction, alternative education programs, remediation services, and others.
Recent expansions to remediation programs will provide additional services to students who struggle academically.
In addition, state programs targeted at early learning and elementary services to students, such as the Early Education and Assistance Program and the phase-in of all-day Kindergarten, are intended to address the achievement gap early and/or before it forms.

Graph & Data Set

For more information…
Contact: Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction