The WASL, a statewide exam that has tested students as well as the patience of its critics statewide, will be replaced by 2010 if new Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn gets his way.
Dorn unveied plans for a new state test in Olympia today.
Dumping the Washington Assessment of Student Learning was the key issue in Dorn’s campaign to unseat incumbent Terry Bergeson in November.
While the WASL will be administered as planned this spring, a new version under a new name will be given in the spring of 2010 to reflect what state lawmakers, educators and the public want, Dorn said.
That will include a shorter, less costly exam with fewer open-ended questions.
Beginning in spring 2010, the state will replace the WASL with two new tests: the Measurements of Student Progress for students in grades three through eight and the High School Proficiency Exams. Together, the assessment system will be called the Washington Comprehensive Assessment Program.
Local education leaders say they are eager to learn the details of Dorn’s changes to the exam, which is supposed to measure students’ ability to think and apply reading, writing, math and science.
“With the WASL, you have to show your work and explain your work,” said Marysville School District Superintendent Larry Nyland. “That’s both the beauty and the knock on the current test.”
“There is a lot we still don’t know,” said Mary Waggoner, a spokeswoman for the Everett School District. “We have a lot of questions.”
Questions will be fewer in number, shorter in length and able to be answered and scored on a computer in his blueprint.
Dorn’s goal is to have students spend less time taking it, teachers spend less time giving it and the state spend less money on it.
Dorn’s plan would keep a requirement that students pass the new incarnation in order to graduate from high school.
Dorn’s plan calls for computer-delivered reading, math and science tests to be available as an option to school districts beginning in 2010 with the goal of statewide implementation by 2012.
The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) will look closely at the feasibility of computerized scoring of the writing test. That would further reduce costs.
“We need a state testing system that makes sense to teachers, students and families,” Dorn said. “Our tests need to be tied to technology and provide immediate feedback to teachers so they can better assist their students. Computerizing the tests will also require far less resources, both in time and money.”
The grades 3-8 Measurements of Student Progress tests will be offered twice each school year, beginning in the fall of 2010. This allows students the opportunity to show proficiency more than once and provides diagnostic and educational growth information to better support individualized teaching plans.
The High School Proficiency Exams will be shorter and contain significantly fewer extended answer questions. Computerizing the tests will also allow a much faster turnaround on results, allowing students, teachers and families more timely information on those students who need to be retested. Additionally, computerizing the tests will save school districts significant resources in time, money and staffing when administering the tests.
As with the WASL, high school students will have to pass the new reading and writing exams or alternatives to the exams to graduate. In math, they must pass the exam or continue taking and passing math classes until they graduate.
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