OLYMPIA – Students who fail to pass the reading or writing portions of the WASL could still graduate in 2008 under a compromise reached by Senate and House education leaders.
Legislation heading to a vote today would create panels to hear appeals from juniors and seniors who fail the tests but can demonstrate they met all other requirements for graduating.
Today is the last scheduled day of the legislative session.
State law now requires students pass the reading, writing and math portions of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning in order to graduate starting in 2008.
Lawmakers and Gov. Chris Gregoire have agreed they will delay the requirement for math to 2013. With nearly 35,000 students at risk of not graduating because they have not passed the math portion, the state will overhaul its math curriculum and beef up its training of teachers in the subject.
Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe, D-Bothell, chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee, wants to push back reading and writing too. She has said up to 16,000 students may not graduate because they fail one or both of those elements.
Gregoire has repeatedly said she will veto such a delay.
McAuliffe said this morning she did not know if the governor would accept this latest policy.
The new legislative language calls for the state Board of Education to set up the panels and develop guidelines for how they will be run. The work would be done by Aug. 1 and be available for next year’s class of high school seniors.
Students who file an appeal will need to at least show they have a good grade point average, a minimum level of competency in reading and writing and meet credit requirements for graduation, she said.
“This does not lower the standard,” McAuliffe said.
“If you go to court you have an appeal,” she said. “Why wouldn’t you have an appeal for a test?”
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