After finishing up its first round of standardized testing with new state tests, Oak Harbor received many “good, yet not good enough” marks.

The passing standard set by the federal government is called “Adequately Yearly Progress” (AYP) and each school must reach or surpass that bar in a variety of subgroups categorized by income and ethnicity. On average, Oak Harbor schools are responsible for about 21 subgroups each, and if just one subgroup falls below the mark, the school, and district, can’t pass.

This year, Broad View, Hillcrest, Olympic View and Oak Harbor elementary schools met AYP, while Crescent Harbor, the two middle schools and Oak Harbor High School did not. Though a 50 percent passing rate may seem alarming, Assistant Superintendent Lance Gibbon said that Oak Harbor is making noteworthy progress that can’t be seen in a quick snapshot of results.

Last year, three of the five elementary schools didn’t meet standards, and this year Crescent Harbor missed the mark by only 1.5 percent. Also among Oak Harbor’s accomplishments, Gibbon noted that Olympic View’s fourth graders have surpassed the state average in reading, writing and math. Additionally, special education and middle school students have brought their scores up to the state averages in reading after falling behind the past few years.

But as progress gets made in some areas, school officials have noticed it slipping in others.

“An area of concern is writing,” Gibbon told the school board members at their meeting last week. “We’ve seen a fairly significant dip this year.”

Multiple grade levels have fallen below the state average in writing and have continued to drop. Gibbon said he wasn’t sure if the scores are a result of focusing too much on reading and math or simply a result of a new testing format. For the past 13 years, students were taking the WASL and are now taking the MSP and HSPE.

Board member Dave Sherman asked Gibbon if Oak Harbor students are getting the preparation they need to apply for colleges, and Gibbon said there’s certainly room for improvement.

“I think we can do better, and I think that’s something that the high school is taking seriously,” Gibbon said. “… Part of what we need to do is challenge our kids to do better and it’s really setting higher expectations and letting them know how good is good enough … and not accepting subpar performance.”

Gibbon said the high school’s scores are mediocre across the board, and though many students have the ability to go to college, they need to be motivated to stay on track.

When it comes to budget cuts next year, Gibbon said the board will have to strategically think about what professional development programs need preserving. Out of the district’s roughly $50 million budget, funding for professional development adds up only to about $140,000.

Another area that needs work is middle school math where all grade levels are below average. However, Gibbon said the district just adopted new math curriculum that he believes will help get the kids on course.

But even with continued progress, meeting federal Adequate Yearly Progress standards will only get harder in the coming years. This year, 58 percent of kids needed to pass the math test and 74.3 percent needed to pass the reading test in order to meet AYP standards. In 2014, 100 percent of students will have to pass both tests in order for a school to meet the bar.

If a school does not meet AYP standards for two consecutive years, it is placed in school improvement, and students from that school must be given the option to transfer to a different district school with higher scores. This year, there were 35 AYP-related transfers.

Out of the 82 districts statewide with more than 3,000 students like Oak Harbor, 80 did not meet AYP this year.

According to the district website, parents should receive students’ individual test scores in the coming week.