This year the Legislature is having a very intense debate about whether high school students should be required to pass the 10th-grade Washington Assessment of Student Learning in reading, writing and math in order to graduate. This is a very important question. But disagreement about the test overshadows agreement about something even more important: the power of rigorous academic standards in our public schools.
Since 1993, when our state’s school reform law was passed, our state has clearly defined what our high school graduates should know and be able to do. This may not sound revolutionary, but it is. For the previous century of public education, our schools had no clear learning goals, and no way to measure whether students even knew how to read, write or do math when we handed out diplomas.
Today’s near-universal support for meaningful academic standards, and measures of whether students meet them, truly marks a watershed in public education. We should not underestimate the power of this idea to reshape and redirect all that we do, in every classroom.
The debate about the WASL is a debate about how and when, not whether, to ensure that all students meet standards. Some believe we are not quite ready for this requirement. Others, ourselves included, believe that because not all students do well on paper-and-pencil tests, it’s important to have an array of assessments that measure student skills in different ways. We want to measure not just what kids know, but what they can do with what they know. If a student can demonstrate standards-based math skills by using them in a carpentry project, we think that should be of equal value with the paper-and-pencil test.
This year, the Legislature is likely to adopt some alternative ways of measuring student mastery of skills. Other adjustments to the WASL graduation requirements will be considered, too.
But through all of this, we want to keep turning the conversation back to the more fundamental question: How do our schools – and our communities – need to change in order to make sure all students meet our academic standards?
Right now, we know that some groups of students are more likely than others to succeed. The test results from the WASL have ended all debate on this subject by showing that students from low-income families and students of color are at a distinct disadvantage in our public schools. These groups of students have much higher dropout rates and much lower rates of passing the WASL.
The causes of this disparity lie in our homes, our communities and our schools, and we need strategies to address those causes in all three places. But the logic of academic standards is that every student, in every classroom, should get the personalized education he or she needs to master the skills set out in our standards – or, in the case of certain special education students, to learn to their fullest potential. Excuses and blame-laying are no longer acceptable. By adopting academic standards, we have committed our education system to genuine, long-term transformation. We have raised our expectations of all students – including students with disabilities, and students from every cultural background and income.
A big part of this transformation must be a much deeper recognition of the powerful role of class and culture in the classroom. Last year’s passage of a bill strongly encouraging schools to incorporate curriculum about the culture and history of local Indian tribes is an important step in this direction. But much more is needed. Teachers must also get the training they need to understand the link between culture and student learning styles. Schools must learn how to make students from diverse cultures feel welcome and respected, and how to reach out to families and communities that currently feel intimidated and excluded. And training programs for new teachers must incorporate more preparation that focuses on teaching strategies that have been shown to produce greater gains for disadvantaged students.
To accelerate this transformation in our schools, all of us need to redouble our efforts to build greater support for the work our teachers are doing. In every home and every community, student academic success must be our top priority. In the Legislature, assuring adequate funding and policy support for education must always be at the forefront of the state’s agenda.
Setting our schools on this difficult but necessary course was the right thing to do. But achieving the ambitious goal of getting all students to meet high standards can only be achieved if we keep doing the right things, year in and year out. It’s often said that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. We’ve taken that first step, and a few more. But to reach our destination, we have to keep walking, even through stormy weather. And if we want to get where we need to go in time to help today’s generation of students, we’d better pick up the pace.
John McCoy (D-Tulalip) represents the 38th Legislative District, which includes Everett, Marysville and Tulalip. Bill Fromhold (D-Vancouver) represents the 49th District, which includes parts of the city of Vancouver and southwestern Clark County.
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