Superintendent scrubs performance metrics from WA State education website amid drop in student test scores

The removed page had tracked the state’s progress toward 2027 targets for student achievement, graduation rates, and English learner progress. After being asked about updated data, OSPI staff acknowledged they had more recent numbers for both the state and local districts, but the agency never updated the public page. Instead, in early September, the entire “State Targets” webpage disappeared.

For more than a decade, Washington’s student performance has been slipping. Between 2013 and 2024, the state’s fourth-grade math ranking fell from 10th in the nation to 27th, while reading dropped from 14th to 18th. During the same period, Mississippi, once among the lowest-performing states, surged past Washington in both reading and math.

Despite these troubling trends, OSPI Superintendent Chris Reykdal has dismissed concerns, calling national comparisons “misleading or incomplete.” He instead pointed to the state’s internal metrics, which were meant to measure whether Washington was on track to meet its own benchmarks by 2027. Those metrics are now gone.

Before the page was removed, the most recent data available dated back to the 2018–2019 school year. When questioned about the outdated figures, OSPI initially promised an update but never delivered one. Weeks later, the webpage tracking progress toward state goals was scrubbed entirely—without notice or explanation.

Now, only raw test data remain. The 2024–2025 Washington State Report Card lists that 70.9 percent of students achieved Levels 2, 3, or 4 in English Language Arts, far below the former goal of 90 percent proficiency. 63.3 percent reached Levels 2, 3, or 4 in math, also well short of targets.

Without benchmarks, it may be difficult for parents, educators, or lawmakers to determine whether Washington’s education system is on track or falling further behind.

Critics say the move mirrors past actions by state officials to obscure disappointing outcomes. In 2019, then- Governor Jay Inslee’s “Results Washington” initiative also removed performance data from public view before his presidential campaign launch.

Education observers argue that such deletions make it harder to hold leaders accountable. “Scrubbing the web page of the targets makes it more difficult to hold politicians accountable for results,” the report said. “Hiding embarrassing results is often the goal.”

The disappearance of the achievement targets also comes amid record spending. Over the past decade, Washington has dramatically increased K–12 funding, and a recent WalletHub study ranks the state third in the nation for teacher compensation.

Yet student outcomes have continued to worsen, even as taxpayers pour more money into the system. Superintendent Reykdal has yet to explain why the target data were removed after the inquiry or how the state plans to reverse years of academic decline.