Disabled don’t escape test

Published 9:00 pm Tuesday, April 4, 2006

LAKEWOOD – Mark and Vickie Nysether figured something was up when their son’s teacher invited them to a birthday party for several students at Lakewood High School.

It was the insistent reminders that made them suspicious.

Sure enough, besides a birthday cake, there was a presentation for their son, Brent, who received a certificate of excellence from the state.

Dan Bates / The Herald Brent Nysether, 18, reads instructions pointed out by Lakewood High School teacher Mindy Goodhead on Friday on how to make a grilled cheese sandwich.

A certificate of excellence? For Brent?

“I was blown away,” Vickie Nysether said. “I was ready to cry.”

Brent, who turned 18 last week, has Down syndrome. He started using hearing aids in spring 2005 after sounds became increasingly muffled over a period of years. His speech is difficult to understand, even for his parents.

Yet, Brent passed an alternative to the high-stakes WASL exams for special education students.

The Washington Assessment of Student Learning is a series of tests high school students must pass in order to graduate, beginning with the class of 2008.

The Washington Alternative Assessment System is designed for a relatively small number of students in special education classes with disabilities requiring intensive, individualized instruction.

This spring, about 500 high school sophomores are taking the alternative tests. By comparison, about 76,000 10th-graders took the WASL exams in 2005.

Instead of a paper and pencil test, students taking the alternative test compile a portfolio of work demonstrating that they have reached the individual standards expected of them.

Brent was able to follow written step-by-step instructions to make a grilled cheese sandwich. Among other things, he took spelling tests and demonstrated that he could tell time using a traditional clock.

The alternative test has become increasingly important for schools. Scores from that test are combined with WASL scores for overall passing rates used for state and federal accountability reporting.

Passing the alternative is not a given for special education students.

Each test is scored by two teachers from outside the student’s district. About half the sophomores who took the test in 2005 passed the reading, writing and math sections. Less than half passed the science section.

Passing all four “means he did an exemplary job on his portfolio,” said Carol Dyer, alternative assessment specialist with the state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. “It is a big deal for families that get that certificate.”

The Nysethers were as surprised as they were proud of their son. Today, the certificate, with Brent’s chocolate-cake thumbprint smudge from the birthday celebration, is kept in a glass frame.

For Brent, the test proved to be a way to showcase and stretch his learning. He understood that he needed to do his best work, and his teacher left it up to him what he would include in his portfolio.

Special education teachers carefully studied state standards as they applied to students in a life skills program and crafted a program for Brent.

Mindy Goodhead, his life skills teacher at Lakewood High School, said the process helped her affirm the importance of the work she does and sharpened the focus of what Brent studies each day at school.

His portfolio included goals from an individualized education plan, which set learning targets established by schools and families for special education students.

“I have never seen a student who is so diligent,” Goodhead said of Brent. “He will stick with something until he figures it out, day after day after day.”

It was particularly evident in spelling, where Brent made a “huge leap” in skill level, Goodhead said. He continues to master longer and tougher words, and prints them neatly.

His parents see the progress. Brent is now better able to understand money. He reads the grocery list and can tell his mother by memory what aisle the cat food is on at the local grocery store.

A diehard Everett Silvertips fan, Brent has memorized each player’s name and number, and now uses the Internet to study the rosters of other hockey teams.

Brent realizes what the certificate means to his parents and to his future. His success has made him more independent.

“I am your son, and I am a man,” Brent says with a smile.

Reporter Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446 or stevick@heraldnet.com.