RISE testing data released by the Utah State Board of Education has placed Wasatch County School District (WCSD) at the top of school districts across the state in ELA (English Language Arts) proficiency for the 2022-23 school year. The data also places Wasatch at third in math among Utah’s 41 districts, and at seventh in Science.
RISE, Utah’s end-of-level state test, is given to grades 3-10 and includes summative tests for ELA, Mathematics, Science, and Writing. According to WCSD Superintendent Paul Sweat, “RISE testing is the primary measurement for student achievement in Utah. It is how we measure the success of our education program as determined by numbers of students who are deemed proficient in math, reading and science.”
The increase in student proficiency from the 2020-21 school year for English rose from 50- to 57.4-percent, from 45- to 52-percent in Math, and from 44- to 52.4-percent in Science. This data comes on the heels of a Harvard/Stanford joint study released this past spring showing Wasatch as the only district in Utah with gains in English and Reading during the three-year COVID pandemic.
“We got here with a determination to help as many students become proficient as possible,” explained Superintendent Sweat. “We did it by clearly identifying our standards and objectives and then working together in high functioning, collaborative teams to make sure that as many students as possible are being deemed proficient. This is not really a test score – this is who has the most kids proficient on a percentage basis.”