The tests keep piling up for high school students.

When members of the Class of 2010 finish their senior year, students will be required to have passed the science portion of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning in order to graduate.

The new requirement is in addition to the math, reading and writing sections of the WASL they already have to pass in order to receive their diplomas.

Officials in both the Coupeville and Oak Harbor school districts are busy adjusting school curricula to better prepare students to pass the science assessment.

This year’s ninth graders are the first students who have to meet the new science requirements. Their performance on the science assessment as eighth graders last spring shows there is a lot of work that needs to be done for everyone to pass.

Recently-released results show 42.7 percent of the eighth graders in the Coupeville School District passed the science portion. In Oak Harbor, 47.6 percent of the eighth graders passed.

Statewide, 42.0 percent of the eighth graders passed the science test.

“I don’t think anyone can be happy with the results we’re getting,” said Charisse Berner, curriculum director for the Oak Harbor School District. “We have our work cut out for us to get kids there.”

Her sentiments are similar to those expressed by officials in the Coupeville School District.

“We didn’t do very well at all,” Coupeville School District Superintendent Bill Myhr said of the science assessment.

The science score is a scenario-based assessment where students have to explain how they reached solutions. While they don’t conduct experiments, they must be able to design an investigation that will lead to a solution.

“It’s a challenging assessment,” Berner said. “It depends on kids explaining their thinking and applying their learning.”

Both school districts implemented new curricula in all grades so teachers can help students meet the new requirement.

Berner said Oak Harbor School District’s efforts are focused on the teachers to ensure they have the materials and training needed to meet the new requirements. She also highlighted the school district’s science center which coordinates materials and provides support for science teachers and the experiments they conduct in their classes.

The Coupeville School District recently implemented a similar program to help coordinate use of science materials.

Glenda Merwine, director of student learning for Coupeville, said there is an emphasis in science for a practical inquiry-based coursework to learn concepts. Coupeville recently adopted a new science curriculum for all grade levels which helps tie math in with science coursework.

“Any time we have these two linked together, it’s wonderful,” Merwine said.

The new science requirement comes as school officials work to bring up math scores which are flat statewide with 51 percent of the sophomores passing the math assessment last spring. Math scores locally were 62.2 percent in Coupeville and 43.9 percent in Oak Harbor.

Low student scores on the science and math assessments have made some educators question the timing of these two assessments and their impact on graduation.

The state School Directors Association is asking the 2007 Legislature to postpone the math requirement until 2011 and the science requirement until 2014. Such a delay would provide more time for school districts to prepare their students.

Myhr said teachers and administrators will continue with their plan to improve science instruction regardless of what happens in Olympia.

“We’re not really worried about what the state and federal government does,” Myhr said. He said the new science curriculum will help the school district meet federal No Child Left Behind requirements.

Similar sentiments were expressed by officials in the Oak Harbor School District.

“It would not diminish our efforts,” Berner said of any delay in science and math requirements.

She did understand the school directors’ desire to delay the science requirement for several years.

“To be fair to the individual student, the system has to be in better shape,” Berner said.

Schools had more time to get ready in other WASL areas such as reading and writing than they did with the science requirement. State schools first administered the WASL in 1997, but the science assessment wasn’t introduced until 2002.