Highline School District officials pointed last week to steady progress in reading and 10th-grade achievement, based on results of this year's Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL).

But they expressed disappointment at the math scores of Highline students.

"I want to make it really clear that we are not satisfied with our overall progress," Superintendent John Welch declared at the Sept. 13 school board meeting.

Welch also announced the district will unveil a new Kindergarten through Grade 12 math initiative in early 2007.

Board vice president Matt Pina expressed concern over falling writing and science WASL scores among the three small schools at SeaTac's Tyee campus. The switch to small schools is part of a district-wide high school redesign plan.

Last September, Tyee students split into three small schools with separate principals and teachers. The increased personalization between students and teachers was designed to boost student achievement and lower dropout rates.

At Tyee, WASL writing and science scores dipped but reading and math scores increased.

Despite Pina's concerns, district staffers said they are pleased that the three small schools made steady progress toward closing the achievement gap between white students and students of color.

The school reduced the number of black students who didn't pass the reading WASL by 23 percent and decreased the number of Asian/Pacific Islander students who didn't meet state standards by 13 percent.

Some students at three other Highline high schools formed small learning communities when school restarted two weeks ago.

On Sept. 6, ninth- through 12th graders formed four small learning communities at Highline High in Burien. Juniors and seniors can cross over between the schools to take electives.

At North Highline's Evergreen High, ninth through 11th graders joined one of three small schools. Seniors will continue in the traditional "comprehensive" mode with students going from classroom to classroom with different teachers.

At Mt. Rainier in Des Moines, freshmen and sophomores are in academies while juniors and seniors remain in the comprehensive model.

Transfer requests for Mt. Rainier decreased from 124 in 2005 to 105 this year despite Mt. Rainier's continued use of the traditional comprehensive model while other schools changed.

"There is no mad rush into Mt. Rainier," district spokeswoman Catherine Carbone Rogers noted.

Based on WASL scores, Tyee's next-door neighbor, Chinook Middle School, was placed in Step 4 of federal "Leave No Child Behind" sanctions

The school has failed to make adequate yearly progress in one or more target groups for the past five years.

Chinook missed improving progress in reading among Hispanic and low-income students as well as math for all students.

Chinook is among four schools in the state that are in Step 4.

Eight Eastern Washington schools are in Step 5, the highest category.

Chinook must offer students the choice to transfer to other schools, offer outside tutoring to low-income students, face "corrective actions" and develop a restructuring plan that could include replacing administrators and teachers.

If Chinook moves into Step 5, it would have to implement a restructuring plan.

Ten other Highline schools also made the federal needs-improvement list with escalating sanctions.

Cascade Middle School in North Highline is in Step 3 after failing to make adequate yearly progress in one or more areas for four years.

Tyee and Des Moines' Pacific Middle School are also in Step 3 but face no penalties because they do not receive federal Title 1 funds.

Midway Elementary School in Des Moines has missed its targets for three years and is in Step 2.

Beverly Park, Hazel Valley and Madrona elementaries are in Step 1 after missing targets for two years.

Evergreen, Highline and Mt. Rainier are also in Step 1, but do not receive Title 1 funds.

All the sanctioned schools must allow students to transfer to better-performing schools.

Transfers played a part in Ross Smith's complaint to board members at their meeting. Smith said his eighth-grade daughter, who took advanced science last year at Sylvester Middle School, was placed in a regular science class this year.

Welch said Sylvester's enrollment is 135 students over estimates and it does not have enough teachers. He said it was decided that students would be placed in integrated science classes for the first semester.

"I want to be really clear that we are not deliberately lowering academic rigor," Welch said. "That doesn't do anything for honors students or struggling students.

"But the proof is in the practice and we will be working with the Sylvester staff."

Ninety students have transferred into Sylvester while Cascade is down 94 students from expected enrollment and Chinook is down 10, Welch added.

Welch warned that more teachers than usual will be moved around because of enrollment discrepancies among schools.

Only 34.2 percent of Highline students, who took the WASL tests in the spring as 10 graders, are eligible to graduate after meeting state standards in reading, writing and math.

The percentage of students passing all three parts of the WASL improved by 17 percent from last year.

Students may retake the tests several times or complete alternative methods to satisfy the graduation requirement.

District officials pointed to several bright spots in the WASL results. These include steady gains in fourth grade reading every year sine 2001; all-time highs in 10th grade reading, math and writing; dramatic improvement in fourth grade reading and writing among English Language Learners students; and improvement in all three areas in seven elementaries.

"We are making steady progress but not as fast as needed," Rogers summarized.