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Spirited Testimony Presented on WASL

Posted on: Monday, 11 February 2008, 21:00 CST

By KATHIE DURBIN

OLYMPIA - Washington's rocky experiment with high-stakes testing drew passionate responses from both supporters and opponents Monday as a Senate committee took testimony on a bill that would delay the requirement for graduates to pass the reading and writing sections of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning for four years, until 2012.

The 2007 Legislature voted to delay requiring passage of the math and science exams as a high school graduation requirement until 2013. But as thing stand now, students in the class of 2008 are required to pass the reading and writing tests in order to graduate from high school.

That requirement would be lifted under Senate Bill 6540, sponsored by Sen. Marilyn Rasmussen, D-Eatonville, and co-sponsored by Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe, chair of the Senate Early Learning and K- 12 Education Committee. Sen. Craig Pridemore, D-Vancouver, has signed on to the measure.

"To hold a hammer and deny a student a diploma because they didn't succeed on one particular test I think is wrong," Rasmussen said. "We're going to deny them a diploma when they've worked hard every day."

"If we're going to move forward, we have to provide the funding to help these children be successful," McAuliffe said in explaining why she agreed to support the measure.

The education establishment is sharply divided over allowing further delay in making the test count toward graduation. State schools chief Terry Bergeson opposes delay, as do associations representing school administrators, school board members and the state's business community.

The Washington Education Association, the Washington State PTA and special education advocates favor de-linking the tests from graduation standards. And individual teachers and administrators have their own strong opinions, as Monday's testimony showed.

Renton School Superintendent Mary Alice Heuschel said she was concerned about the message further delay would send to students who have worked hard to meet the standard.

"There are those who think, 'This too shall pass,' " she said. "I ask for your courage to not prove those doubters right."

"Our members voted last fall to de-link the WASL from high school graduation," said Kim Howard of the Washington State PTA. "A single high-stakes test should never determine high school graduation."

But Mona Bailey, a member of the Black Education Strategy Roundtable and a former assistant state superintendent of public instruction, said her organization of educators is adamantly opposed to SB 6540.

Black students are making progress, she said. "Let us build on it and reach for higher levels of achievement. To stop short of this expectation ensures that African-American students who are already behind will be left further behind."

Rich Semler, superintendent of the Richland School District, said school districts and students pay a price for the high priority the state places on the WASL. For instance, he said his district had to cut $300,000 from its skills center budget this year as a direct result of lower enrollment by students who chose instead to focus on passing the WASL.

But Arcella Hall, former superintendent of Grandview High School in Yakima County, held up her school, which she said was "80 percent Hispanic, 80 percent high-poverty," as an example of how the WASL requirement has helped students gain skills.

In the class of 2008, just eight students have failed to meet the WASL standards, she said. "To have those standards no longer be the expectation is, to them, a major slap in the face."

The business community, including the Washington Roundtable, the Association of Washington Business and the Washington Software Alliance, testified against further delay.

High standards are even more important for students who may not go to college than for the college-bound, said Mike Bernard of AWB. "Waffling on the WASL does a disservice" to school districts and especially to kids, he said.

But Samuel Fields, a teacher at Bethel Junior High in Spanaway, said the WASL robs students in his science classes of valuable lessons that aren't measured in a test, like how to use the scientific method.

"Anything that slows down this huge 18-wheeler is good," Fields said. He estimated that the WASL and preparations for the WASL result in 24 days of "interrupted education" for his students.

And Tom Cruver, a teacher in the Bethel School District in eastern Pierce County, said the students he has taught for 20 of his 35 years as a teacher struggle to make progress on the tests, only to learn that their efforts have fallen short.

"The students I often work with start with a score of zero or one on the WASL," he said. "They're extremely fragile students. I look at the student who looks at me and says, 'Mr. Cruver, I've tried three times. I'm through.' "

At the end of the hearing, McAuliffe announced that she hopes for a committee vote on SB 6540 and four other WASL bills next week. Gov. Chris Gregoire has vowed to veto any bill that further delays implementation of the WASL.

The other bills:

SB 6503 would give students another way to pass the math WASL by letting them take a year-long "segmented mathematics" course and be tested on each section as they complete it. The course, and the tests, would cover numbers and algebra, geometry and measurement, and probability and statistics.

SB 6494 would create a new way to graduate without passing the WASL beginning with the class of 2009. Students could graduate by achieving a certain grade point average and completing other tasks.

SB 6257 would require the state to report results of the WASL only in the aggregate - by individual school or grade - and not by the scores of individual students.

SB 6673 would require school officials to notify students in the spring of eighth grade if they are not on track to pass the WASL and to notify 11th- and 12th-graders if they are in danger of failing to graduate. The bill would require districts to give those students the option of staying in school and, if funding is approved, to provide them with basic education and skills training until they reach age 21.

Kathie Durbin can be reached in The Columbian's Olympia bureau at kathie.durbin@columbian.com or 360-586-2437.

Originally published by KATHIE DURBIN Columbian staff writer.

(c) 2008 Columbian. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.

Source: Columbian

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