After a pandemic-era decline, LWSD sees gradual recovery in test scores
Lake Washington School District (LWSD) saw a sharp decline in Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBA) scores for English language arts (ELA), math, and science from 2019 to 2021. Since then, scores have gradually improved. While LWSD is focused on continuous improvement, parents and teachers still feel the pandemic’s impact on learning.
While the district’s scores remain above the state average, LWSD data from 2018-2024 shows significant declines during the pandemic, with slow recovery in recent years. In ELA and math, scores dropped by approximately 6.4% and 12.2%, respectively, but have since improved by 1.5% and 7.1%. Science scores, however, remain impacted due to widespread test refusals among 11th graders over the past four years, which has skewed the district’s overall performance in that subject.
In an e-mail with the Sammamish Independent, LWSD Superintendent Jon Holmen acknowledged the pandemic’s impact on student learning but emphasized that the district’s scores remain competitive.
“Student learning was affected during the pandemic, and we can see recovery in our standardized academic progress,” Holmen said.
SBA testing is reported as the percentage of students that score above standard in each subject. In 2024, 78.3% of LWSD students scored above standard in ELA, 72.1% in math, and 75.5% in science, compared to 70.8%, 62.7%, and 62.0% statewide.
Parents and teachers acknowledge the initial impact of remote learning, but some are seeing lasting impacts of social and study habits learned during that time.
According to Jack Tang, whose child was in eighth grade during the first year of post-pandemic testing and is currently a junior at Eastlake High School, even after returning to the classroom, his student’s engagement suffered.
Tang has observed a continued reliance on online study materials and increased screen time habits for his student, leading to decreased focus and engagement. He believes his student needs access to more in-person study sessions, group projects, and teacher office hours to be fully engaged in learning.
Holmen explained that while educational technology and screen habits have changed, the technology itself is not solely to blame.
He added that test score fluctuations result from multiple factors, including curriculum shifts and changes to test methods, making it difficult to pinpoint a single cause for any change in scores.
Eastlake High School humanities teacher Matthew Austin believes the social impact of remote learning is still affecting education.
While remote students tried to engage through online study groups and video calls, Austin says the experience was not equivalent to in-person learning. The result he sees now is a reluctance to participate in discussions and unwillingness to be vulnerable.
“[Students need] the social element of education—the ability to build the knowledge together with classmates,” Austin said.
Estella Lu has a seventh grader at Evergreen Middle School and a junior at Eastlake. She believes students are still feeling the impact of remote learning, but in her case, the disruption seems to stem from teacher turnover during and after the pandemic.
“I know personally we lost some really, really good teachers because they needed to care for their family members and then they never really came back,” Lu said.
Looking forward, LWSD aims to support the academic needs of all students through co-teaching and inclusive practices. The district’s approach focuses on continuous progress rather than returning to a specific pre-pandemic benchmark.
“Our recovery goal is to consistently make upward progress in our measures of achievement,” Holmen said.
While the upward progress has begun, Austin believes the recovery is still a long way off.
“Everybody who’s in our school system still has a gap somewhere. We haven’t moved past that gap. It will be ten more, 15 more years,” Austin said.
