I want to thank you for underscoring the importance of Washington’s education reform efforts and the significance of helping all students achieve high academic standards in your Jan. 28 editorial (“State officials should do their homework on tests”). I would like to clarify a couple of points related to the study you referenced. The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction is preparing to fund an independent analysis of our seventh- and 10th-grade Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) in mathematics. This effort is similar to the 2000 analysis of the fourth-grade math assessment, which yielded valuable feedback and resulted in small but necessary adjustments to the assessment.
These studies are in the planning stages and, as of yet, the cost of the studies has not been determined. The $100,000 figure quoted in the editorial reflects the total amount of the agency’s annual budget for assessment research in our contract with our testing company – not the cost of these studies. Also, the project will examine, among other things, the process used to develop the test, alignment of the test items to the state’s essential academic learning requirements, the characteristics of schools performing well on the test, and the content of the curriculum actually taught in the classroom.
Once the studies of these assessments are completed, we will share our findings with the public – and The Herald – just as we did in 2000.
Director of Research and Evaluation
Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction
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