Modify test so kids won’t be left behind

I am in fear of being “left behind.” As we all know, 39 percent of 10th graders did not pass the Washington Assessment of Student Learning and I’m starting to think that the “No Child Left Behind” act is a lot worse than I had expected. If that 61 percent doesn’t do significantly better on the WASL before high school graduation, there will be a crisis. Who would have thought that a program intended to stop kids from slipping through the cracks would put more young people at risk of not graduating than before?

One would expect that the authors of this stupid test will modify it so that we don’t have to worry about a skyrocketing dropout rate, but we can’t really expect too much from the bureaucrats who thought this up in the first place. According to my teachers, I will be graduating in 2009, but I’m not sure I can be so confident.

BEN BLOOM

8th Grade

Everett Public Schools