In the Sept. 9 Whidbey News-Times report of Oak Harbor School District’s WASL scores, the headline “Math scores don’t add up” inaccurately reflects the real story.

“Schools succeed again” would be a far more accurate headline matching the data released by the state on how students tested in reading, writing, math and science. Instead of focusing on the preponderance of good news, the paper decided instead to bias the news story as if it were an editorial. Here are the facts: our students, teachers, and parents, working together, achieved improved test scores in 4th grade math and reading scores, 7th grade math and writing scores, 10th grade reading and writing scores, and 5th and 8th grade science scores.

Oak Harbor students beat the state average scores in 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade reading; in 4th, 7th, and 8th grade math; in 7th grade writing; and in 8th grade science.

Except for 4th grade writing, 7th grade reading, and 10th grade math, overall, trends in 4th, 7th, and 10th grade WASL scores have been steadily rising, in some cases dramatically, not only from year to year but also over several years.

As the old song goes,

“You’ve got to accentuate the positive

Eliminate the negative

Latch on to the affirmative

Don’t mess with Mister In-Between.”

Peter Szalai

Oak Harbor Education Association