For the overwhelming majority of our state’s high school students, all the pressure and worry over the Washington Assessment of Student Learning is paying off.
Statewide scores from this spring’s tests shows members of the Class of 2008 – the first for whom passing the WASL in reading and writing is a graduation requirement – have the strong literacy skills they’ll need to get ahead in a competitive world. The bar has been set higher, and by and large, they’re clearing it.
Of this year’s juniors who have taken the WASL, and some have taken it three times, 95.6 percent have passed in reading and 96.3 percent have made the grade in writing. In this spring’s testing, 5,197 more students reached the bar in reading, and an additional 6,146 passed in writing. All of those who have passed, and the educators and families who helped them do so, deserve congratulations.
This impressive success, however, isn’t likely to quiet the WASL’s loudest critics. They’ll point to the 5,000-6,000 students who haven’t passed as evidence that the test isn’t fair, that a single test shouldn’t bar a student from getting a diploma.
Such energy would be better directed at getting more students over the bar. The Legislature this year approved millions more dollars to get targeted help to students who need it. Parents of students who haven’t passed need to take advantage of that opportunity and get them into summer school. A number of alternative assessments are also available. The experience of the thousands of juniors who passed for the first time this year shows that hard work and the right kind of help can make all the difference.
Math continues to be a concern. Of students who have taken the math WASL, only 74.3 percent have passed. This spring, an additional 5,788 students earned a passing score, but that still leaves far too many behind. The Legislature responded this year by postponing the graduation requirement in math until 2013. In the meantime, it’s up to the state to figure out how to teach math more effectively.
In reading and writing, though, there’s a ton of success for tens of thousands of families to celebrate. The focus now must be on getting as many struggling students as possible to join them, not on lowering expectations.
In a competitive world where knowledge and skills will be the global currency, a high school diploma must be seen as a reward to be earned, not an entitlement to be handed out.
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