Look to pass WASL, not to undermine it

All the howls over the exporting of American jobs overseas should be accompanied by some soul-searching. What, we should be asking ourselves, can we do to encourage the creation of good-paying jobs here at home?

One obvious answer: Create a highly skilled workforce.

Happily, efforts to do so have been underway in this state for several years. Higher learning standards have been put in place, backed by an important, performance-based accountability measure: the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, or WASL.

Fourth-, seventh- and 10th-graders across that state are taking the WASL this week, showing how they’re progressing in reading, writing and math. Scores will be used to determine how well individual schools are progressing under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Those that aren’t making "adequate yearly progress" can be assessed penalties, including the loss of federal funding.

And this year’s WASL offers important practice for fourth- and seventh-graders, all of whom will have to pass the 10th-grade version in order to graduate from high school.

With so much at stake, some parents and educators are getting nervous. Some are even calling for a boycott of the test, encouraging parents to opt their children out of testing.

That effort is misguided. It hurts the student, who misses an opportunity to gain experience in test-taking — a skill that will serve them well throughout their academic careers. It also hurts the school, because a student who fails to take the test counts as a zero, lowering the school’s average and perhaps exposing it to federal penalties.

Parents’ energy would be much better directed at ensuring their children are adequately prepared for testing. Proper nutrition and sleep are important, as is regular attention to homework. School officials also remind parents to avoid scheduling trips to the dentist or doctor during testing days.

To succeed in today’s world, students must have adequate communication, math and problem-solving skills, whether they go on to college or go right to work. It’s a grave disservice to send students into the world without them.

Expectations are high — as they should be.