Washington Elementary Students Excel on WASL, ITBS with Reading Mastery Plus

Evergreen Elementary School in Spokane, Washington, part of the Mead School District, has seen sustained high reading achievement since adopting Direct Instruction's Reading Mastery in the mid-1990s and later expanding its use. This descriptive study reviews the school's performance on the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) for Grade 3 and the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) for Grade 4. All students in Grades K-3 are taught with Reading Mastery Plus. The school also uses Spelling Mastery and Spelling Through Morphographs. Performance data shows consistently high scores. For example, on the Grade 4 WASL, the percentage of students meeting or exceeding state reading standards rose from 72% in 1998 to 94% in both 2004 and 2005. On the Grade 3 ITBS, students consistently scored at high percentile ranks, reaching the 73rd percentile in 2002. The school serves 652 students in Grades K-6, with a population that is 89% Caucasian and 30% qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch.