This study used Washington state school district identification numbers to follow the progress of 14,860 fourth graders (in 1998) and 12,827 seventh graders (in 1998) for 3 years. The inauguration of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) made it possible to track individual student academic performance and examine the consequences…

This year the Center on Education Policy analyzed data on the achievement of different groups of students in two distinct ways. First, it looked at grade 4 test results to determine whether the performance of various groups improved at three achievement levels--basic and above, proficient and above, and advanced. Second, it looked at gaps between…

In April 2002, Jeffrey Fouts (2002) presented a longitudinal study of student performance in Washington using Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) results from 1998 to 2001. Although constrained by the lack of individual student identification numbers at that time, he concluded that success on the WASL in the 4th grade was a strong…