OLYMPIA – High school students who fail to pass the reading, writing or math portions of the WASL could still graduate in 2008 under a bill Democrats herded to passage hours before the Legislature adjourned Sunday.
The bill heading to the governor gives students several more ways of qualifying for graduation if they can prove their proficiency in the subject area of the WASL that they failed.
The legislation, approved on a mostly party-line vote, also sets up an appeal process for juniors and seniors who don’t pass any of three elements of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning. They would get a chance to convince an appeals board that their record of academic achievement qualifies them for a diploma.
“This does not lower the standard,” said Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe, D-Bothell, who is chairwoman of the Senate education committee and was deeply involved in writing the language.
“If you go to court, you have an appeal,” she said. “Why wouldn’t you have an appeal for a test?”
The state Board of Education would write the rules for conducting appeals and determine criteria on who could file. This would be done by Aug. 1 and be available for next year’s class of seniors.
In the House debate, Rep. Fred Jarrett, R-Mercer Island said the legislation that was cobbled together represented an “11th-hour compromise” that is “downright impossible to administer” with an “unimplementable” appeals process.
Sunday’s debate culminated a session-long discussion on how to help thousands of students at risk of not graduating next year.
State law now requires students pass the reading, writing and math portions of the WASL in order to graduate starting in 2008.
At this point more than 30,000 students could miss out because they can’t pass math. This bill does delay until 2013 the math requirement, giving the state time to figure out how to best teach the subject and who can best do the teaching.
Science, which must be passed starting in 2010, would be delayed until 2013, too.
It is unclear how Gov. Chris Gregoire will act.
She has backed postponing the math and science requirement but has been steadfastly opposed to easing rules for reading and writing. This legislation is written in a way that she could veto sections of the bill she doesn’t like.
McAuliffe made reading and writing an issue in the last two weeks.
She did so after superintendents of 42 school districts, including Edmonds and Everett, urged her to act and cited the potential of 16,000 students not graduating because they cannot pass the reading or writing tests.
In this bill, students can use their reading and writing scores on aptitude tests such as the SAT and ACT as an alternative to the WASL. Today, students can use their math scores on those tests to offset a failed math WASL.
The State Board of Education would establish a minimum score that could qualify.
The bill also exempts some English language learners from taking the WASL unless required to do so by federal law.
And the legislation sets the Legislature on a path for possibly replacing the math and science WASL with a new system known as end-of-course assessments.
Reporter Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623 or jcornfield@heraldnet.com.
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