Continued: Most Minnesota 9th-graders pass writing test

Minnesota ninth-graders seem to have the state's writing test pretty well mastered.

Nine out of 10 passed it this year, the state Department of Education announced Tuesday.

Officially, the passing rate was tallied at 89.5 percent, a slight dropoff from last year's 90.8 percent passing rate. Ninth-graders must pass the writing test to graduate from high school, but can keep taking the test until they pass.

"It looks like we're holding steady," said state Education Commissioner Alice Seagren. "Even though there's been a little bit of a decline, it's not statistically significant."

Although the overall scores changed little, passing rates dropped among several student populations, including Hispanic, Asian, low-income students and special education students. For instance, the passing rate for Hispanic students dropped from 77 percent to 74 percent. Among low-income ninth-graders, the passing rate dropped from 80 percent to 77 percent. Also, the passing rate in Minneapolis schools dropped from last year's 73 percent to 67 percent.

The results need to be analyzed more thoroughly before officials can figure out the reasons for such declines, Seagren said.

Seagren said there was no change in difficulty between this year's test and last year's, the first one administered to ninth-graders as a graduation requirement test.

The writing test consists of an essay students write in response to a written "prompt." This year's prompt asked ninth-graders to write about a time when they did something to help someone else. The essays are then graded on the composition of the essay, grammar, style, sentence structure, mechanics and spelling.

The test, officially called the Writing Graduation-Required Assessments for Diploma (GRAD), replaces the old writing basic skills tests, which were administered to 10th-graders.

The passing rates on the writing test have historically been high, hovering around 90 percent. Such high rates, state education officials have said, make it hard to see much improvement in the test results from year to year.

"When you reach the 90 percent range, it's going to be harder to push up to the next level," Seagren said.

Minnesota students must also pass math and reading tests to graduate. Preliminary overall results for the reading tests, which students beginning in grade 10 must pass, showed a statewide 75 percent passing rate. A graduation-requirement math test will be administered to 11th-graders beginning next year.

Norman Draper • 612-673-4547