"What's the single biggest concern facing public schools in Washington today?" she asked, almost rhetorically, before biting into a tuna salad sandwich from Marlene's Deli. Evelyn Castellar, 52 and a vivacious member of the Federal Way School Board, doesn't wait long for an answer.

The WASL, she says, and by a large margin.

Between trips to her medical clinic in Honduras and her duties on the board, Castellar-a sharp and fast-witted entrepreneur often labeled as controversial-has developed a program called WASLpass, designed to help Federal Way students pass the Washington Assessment of Student Learning exam.

Third-through-eighth graders and tenth graders take the WASL each spring, and the Federal Way schools-particularly those with high percentages of minorities enrolled, Castellar said-have struggled to pass the test.

"Only Todd Beamer High School passed their AYP's (Annual Yearly Progress assessments) last year," Castellar said, emphasizing the need to better prepare the district's 22,395 students for the WASL, "and they didn't pass by much."

Castellar, the newly elected president of the school board, has begun promoting WASLpass around the state as an entirely Internet-based tutoring program that she guarantees will help students pass the exam. Students can prepare for the WASL in the classroom and at home by logging on the site with a username and password.

The tutoring software incorporates a "tried and true teaching methodology" that offers students a pool of rights answers from which to select-a testing strategy called selection intermixture that encourages students to master each lesson before advancing in the program. If a student misses a question, he or she must choose a different correct answer from a new pool of choices.

"The key is to find a way to help each student find a familiarity with the WASL," said Castellar, who demands that the students master each of the programs' 30 lessons before moving on. "When they finally catch on to the program, you can see it."

The test measures success on mastery, not merely completion of a lesson, so students thoroughly learn the material and advance at their own pace, Castellar said.

"The unhappy student will smile," she said, triumphantly. "It's such a great feeling."

Parents and students can take a free test drive of the program by logging on to www.WASLpass.com

Supporters within the district have begun singing the program's praises.

"WASLpass gives students the ability to tailor their own WASL preparation based on skills, strengths and weaknesses," said Dr. Mark Jewel, curriculum director for FWPS.

"The program gives parents resources to help their child prepare for the WASL at home," Jewel said, "to supplement what the schools are doing already." With so much pressure for accountability under the No Child Left Behind Act, Jewel said, parents have begun looking for ways to prepare their children for the WASL before they take the exam.

"It appears (WASLpass) can be very helpful for kids that are either behind or need a refresher or practice," said FWPS Superintendent Tom Murphy, whom Castellar initially labeled "a skeptic" about the program.

WASLpass serves as an economic venture for Castellar, who developed the online program with a team of highly qualified educators and administrators.

"We brought together a team of PhDs and MAs to write the curriculum," Castellar said. Even Charles Hoff, former president of the Federal Way school board, helped develop the program.

Her company, Federal Way-based testing and assessment firm Intellipass, sells the program to districts around the state for as much as $75 per course, per student. Castellar insists she developed the program as an educator, not a profit-seeker, and lists the high achievement of Washington's students as the ultimate goal of her WASLpass endeavor.

And with Governor Gregoire announcing last Thursday that she plans to spend $40 million to help Washington students pass the WASL, Castellar said her company will offer WASLpass to Federal Way students for free.

"Federal Way has a huge advantage by having this program available for no cost," Castellar said. High-ranking administrators in the district seem to share that same opinion.

"Evelyn has certainly made us a very generous offer," said Jewel. He said the district, the seventh largest of 296 districts statewide, is fortunate to have a free resource for WASL preparation available. He added that, as more states develop achievement assessment tests like the WASL, parents and teachers can expect the availability of for-fee test prep programs, designed specifically for the Washington exam, from companies like Kaplan, Princeton Review and Sylvan.

"The system works best," Jewel said, "when used in conjunction with guidance from parents at home."

Jewel said he hoped to see a version of WASLpass designed to meet the needs of students who read or speak another language or who have reading or learning disabilities.

"I'd like an audio-based program so that some kids can have the test read to them," Jewel requested.

The curriculum director also said that Federal Way district parents who want to begin using WASLpass for free should contact their child's school and teacher to obtain information on logging into the program.

So far, the infiltration of WASLpass into FWPS classrooms has met its share of obstacles.

From skeptical principals to a handful of lethargic educators among the system's 1,300 teachers, Castellar said the WASLpass-despite its appealing price tag-continues to meet resistance in the district.

"There are so many gatekeepers in the system," said Castellar.

Jewel said the program continues to take hold slowly, but added that Castellar's company has only made a production version of WASLpass available to the district this school year. A beta version of the program helped the Nespelem school district, a predominantly Native American system in Okanogan County, pass its AYPs in spring 2005. As curriculum director of the district, Jewel has made teachers in the applicable grades aware of the testing program's availability, but has, by no means, required educators to implement it into their classroom curricula.

Castellar remains limited in her role of as supporter and advertiser of the program. As a member of the school board, she skirts the delicate line of helping Federal Way students pass the WASL and promoting her for-profit product around the state.

"I could never do that," said Castellar, her head shaking, when asked if she had considered using her authority as a member of the school board to expedite the program's infusion into Federal Way's schools. She said she sees a clear conflict of interest in turning a profit off her own district, but doesn't want to deprive Federal Way students of access to WASLpass.

So she made what Superintendent Murphy called a "wonderfully gracious," offer.

Murphy said he sees no conflict of interest as long as the program remains free for Federal Way students. He even double-checked with the district's attorneys.

"As a long as she doesn't use her position to make a profit," he added, "I see no ethical violation."

The superintendent said Castellar could use the program's future success in Federal Way to advertise her product around the state.

"Many of our school board members are business people," Murphy said. "We naturally don't expect them to go out of business because they're on the board."