The Washington Assessment of Student Learning will be a hot topic this year. For the first time, 10th-graders who fail it risk not getting a high school diploma. Unfortunately, some of our state’s leaders – notably former Gov. Booth Gardner – are offering “fixes” that are exactly backwards. They are about to get an F on state education policy, because they’re studying the wrong material.
As of this spring, 10th-graders are required to pass WASL tests in reading, writing and math in order to graduate. Students can retake failed exams, but current predictions are that around half of all Washington state high schoolers won’t pass the WASL and won’t get a diploma. Historically, only about three-fourths of Washington students graduate high school, placing us slightly below average compared with other states. Dropping state graduation rates to 50 percent would drop Washington to the very bottom of the national graduation rate list. We have a crisis on our hands.
The pressure is building to find a solution. Unfortunately, many suggested solutions are aimed at treating the symptoms rather than curing the underlying problem. The symptom is students failing the WASL. The problem is that our kids aren’t so good at reading, writing and ‘rithmetic.
As the debate over the WASL unfolds in the coming months, remember this phrase: The map is not the territory.
This slogan was popularized by the famed semanticist, and later U.S. senator, S.I. Hayakawa. It’s a reminder to us not to confuse a symbol with the underlying thing being measured. In this case, grades on the WASL are the map, education is the territory.
Every time you hear a WASL-crisis reform proposal, ask whether the focus is on teaching students the material they need to know (upgrading the territory) or on messing with the test to hide the failure of the education system (distorting the map).
Why would anyone want to mess with the WASL rather than fix the part of the system that’s broken? Because it’s easier to cover up the symptoms than it is to treat the problem. Some in the state don’t want to spend money to change failing schools. Others don’t want students to lose out on getting a diploma, even if they didn’t earn it. Combine the two groups and we have a grand coalition forming to demote the role of the WASL.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Terry Bergeson took a much more forthright stand when she said recently, “It’s much easier to frighten people by telling them thousands of our kids might not graduate if we raise standards, than to admit that thousands of our kids already graduate without the ability to read, write and do math at a level that will allow them any amount of success in the world.
“It’s much easier to blame a test as hard and unfair than it is to admit the test is telling us something we’ve known for decades – too many of our kids don’t have these skills.”
Bergeson has asked for an extra $42 million in the supplemental budget for additional summer school and other efforts to bring kids up to the level required to pass the WASL. We all need to get behind this kind of effort to provide our students with a solid, basic education.
Say no to those who want to “fix” the crisis by dumbing down the WASL requirement. The WASL makes visible the real problem of a failed education for too many. Facing the problem is the first step in fixing it.
Dick Startz is Castor Professor of Economics at the University of Washington. He can be reached at econcol@u.washington.edu.
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