Collection of Evidence by the Numbers

Yesterday at the State Board of Education meeting, Dr. Lesley Klenk of the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction presented a report on the results of the 2006-07 school year Collections of Evidence (COE). A collection of evidence is an "alternative option" to meeting proficiency on the state standards and earning a Certificate of Academic Achievement. It is a classroom-centered collection of student work that features examples of assignments that align with the state standards.

With approximately 28,000 students in the Class of 2008 that did not pass at least one part of the WASL, the numbers that submitted COE's and met standard were surprisingly low.

There was a potential of over 27,000 students who could have submitted a COE because they had not met the math standard. However, there were 727 COE's received by OSPI and of those only 332 met standard (46%). In other words, less than 3% of the potential math COE's were submitted to OSPI.


In writing just over 9100 seniors could have submitted a COE and only 31 were sent to OSPI. That is less than 1/3 of 1% of those that need to demonstrate there writing skills in order to graduate next spring. Of the 31 produced in the entire state, 7 met standard (23%).


Even fewer were submitted in reading, 18, and of those 15 met standard (83%). Again there were 9100 students who could have participated in the reading COE.

It will be interesting to see if the COE and the other alternatives become more used this year by students or whether only another 776 collection of evidences will be submitted statewide. With graduation on the line for many students, you would think the use of the COE would increase significantly this year.