The third graders in the Coupeville School District last spring took the Washington Assessment of Student Learning for the first time.

School officials are pleased with their performance on the assessment as 67.4 percent of the students passed the math portion and 86.4 percent passed reading.

“What we’re really excited about is third grade,” Superintendent Bill Myhr said. “We hope that will be a continuous trend year after year.”

Myhr cited a new curriculum at the elementary school level the district implemented two years ago as helping improve student math scores.

District wide, Myhr said he was pleased with the performance on the assessment students took last spring.

For the sophomores, 88.3 percent passed reading, 62.2 passed math and 87.1 percent passed writing. More than 72 percent of the seventh graders passed reading, 55.4 percent passed math and 81.3 percent passed writing. With fourth graders, 76.6 percent passed reading, 55.8 percent passed math and 68.8 percent passed writing.

As with other school districts, school officials are concerned with math scores. The high school math scores are around 25 points lower than the other two subjects.

Passing the WASL is a graduation requirement for the class of 2008.

To help the high school students out, the school district offers a WASL math class in the summer and math interventions during the school year. Those help students improve their math skills in preparation for the assessment. They also have five chances to pass the sophomore assessment before the end of their senior year.

Myhr said the school district is looking to implement a new math curriculum next year in grades six through 12, which should also help student performance.

He said he was concerned about student performance on the new science section of the WASL. The class of 2010 also will have to pass that assessment in order to graduate. Scores on the science WASL ranged between 25 percent and 44.2 percent depending on grade level.

Myhr said employees had been concentrating on math, reading and writing in recent years, but added a new curriculum in secondary school will be implemented.

“Our focus has been on literacy, reading, writing and math,” Myhr said.

He said there will be professional development for teachers and they will continue to work with each other to help improve teaching techniques.

On a state level, 81.1 percent of the fourth graders passed reading, 58.9 percent passed math and 60.3 percent passed writing. For seventh graders 61.5 percent passed reading, 48.5 percent passed math and 64.5 percent passed writing. For 10th-graders, 81.9 percent passed reading, 51 percent passed math and 79.7 percent passed math.

With the WASL scores known, school officials are busy breaking down information to see how the district did among various groups and how students performed on various parts of each assessment.