When state officials released the scores of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, Coupeville School District officials breathed a collective sigh of relief.

“The WASL doesn’t scare us,” Coupeville Superintendent Bill Myhr said.

The district saw record high numbers of students passing the WASL in all subject areas but one, which is 10th grade reading.

The same can be said about the district’s scores when compared to state averages. In all areas except fourth grade math, the district was above the state’s marks.

“We know this is important and we know we still have work to do, but we are pleased that our historical trends are going up,” Myhr said.

Since 1997, the district has increased its fourth grade math score by 32.8 percent. The writing score jumped more than 22 percent since last year.

Myhr said the implication is that a systematic change in how writing is taught helped that climb.

“We feel real strongly that our K-through-12 system is improving and that is demonstrated by our WASL scores,” Myhr said.

The district is also implementing a new math curriculum and staff development program, Myhr said. This new system should produce a jump similar to the reading scores, he said.

At the seventh-grade level, the scores continue to soar. The 72 percent of students passing the reading section topped the state average by approximately 12 percent. And the 77.6 percent passing the writing section trumped the state’s average by 19.6 percent.

The high scores only improve when students get into 10th grade. Last year 56.7 percent of students passed the math section. This compares with the 43.9 percent of students who passed in the state. In addition, 76.7 percent of students passed writing, compared to 65.2 percent for the state.

Myhr said the district’s goal is to continue the climb, but it faces challenges.

“Each class has different socioeconomic factors and different economic statuses and we feel we need to overcome those variables,” he said.

In addition, the 10th graders will begin to feel the pressure of the exam, which becomes a graduation requirement for the class of 2008.