About 50% of students proficient in first round of new state tests

SEATTLE (AP) — About half of Washington students scored proficient on the new, more challenging statewide tests in the first year they were given across the state.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn says he's pleased with those results. They meet expectations for the new tests and are better than what was expected nationally.

But no one is happy with the Common Core test results for the students who will be seniors in high school this year. They passed at much lower levels, in part because all the students who opted out of the tests this past spring were assigned a score of zero.

When those zeros are added to the scores of students who actually took the tests, only 26 percent scored proficient on the new English language arts exam and only 14 percent got a college-ready score on the math test.