Tool Helps Wash. Teachers Write Learning Plans

Educators in Washington state and a Naperville, Illinois-based nonprofit group are teaming up to solve a daunting problem: how to craft individualized learning plans for thousands of students who are off track for passing the state’s 10th grade test, which is required for high school graduation starting with the class of 2008.

Under a 2004 state law, Washington schools have until this June to craft a student learning plan for each 9th grader who fell short of the state’s standard for mathematics or language arts on the 7th grade version of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, or WASL. Those students are also deemed to be at risk of failing the 10th grade exam.

“This has become a high-level compliance issue,” said Scott Poirier, the state’s assistant superintendent for secondary education reform, who led development of a new online database that will serve up the bulk of the data needed...