Harry Potter and the Hogwarts School offer some valuable lessons about high-stakes testing. And high-stakes testing has become a critical issue for the state. This year Washington 10th-graders are required to pass three tests on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning or lose out on receiving a high school diploma, and the projected flunk rate is 50 percent.
Students at Hogwarts take OWLs (Ordinary Wizarding Levels), and the more advanced NEWTs (Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests). Student records show the number of OWLs passed. As Harry Potter fans may recall, Harry gets eight O’s (passing marks on eight of the 12 OWLs). Hermione, Harry’s studious friend, does better of course, receiving 10 O’s. Passing OWLs and NEWTs is a key to a good magic career.
There’s a bit of wordplay going on in all this. British students used to sit for O-levels (“O-levels” and “OWLs,” get it?) and A-levels (NEWTs in the magical world) in high school. Rather than just receiving diplomas, students’ records showed how many tests they’d passed. Doing well on O-levels demonstrated a basic mastery. A-levels, which are still used, are the essential qualification for getting into college. The more A-levels passed, the better chance of admission to a selective university.
In Washington, you either get a diploma or you don’t. Under the WASL system, a student who passes two of the three required tests, earns passing grades in his classes and meets the other standards set for graduation, does not graduate. He or she walks away with nothing from attending school. One solution to the WASL problem is for Washington to offer multiple diploma levels.
The Brits’ more flexible system offers a range of credentials. The number of O-levels or A-levels passed tells employers and schools more than can be learned from just knowing whether a student graduated.
The best solution would be to give every high school student an A-level education. But until the magical day this happens, providing two levels of diploma offers more students a credential positively reflecting on what the student has accomplished.
Suppose we were to offer an “academic” diploma and a “general” diploma. The academic diploma would signify the student was ready to enter college. It would require passing all three WASLs, or the equivalent, and good grades earned taking solid academic courses in high school.
The general diploma would require a lower performance level on the WASLs. Passing grades would be good enough and we’d allow some substitution of occupational ed courses in place of a few of the academic courses. We might even accept passing two of the three WASLs for the general diploma.
The two-tiered system would keep up pressure on schools that were issuing mostly general diplomas to increase the number of students earning academic diplomas. And students who under the WASL system are going to walk out empty-handed would earn a legitimate diploma.
But isn’t this two-class system distasteful? It is, but less so than the alternatives. Traditionally, we’ve handed many students fake diplomas. If they show up regularly, and don’t do too badly at class work, we hand them the same diploma as students who’ve really achieved. In contrast, under the new WASL system these students get nothing at all, even though they did show up regularly and didn’t do too badly at class work. It’s better that everyone get an honestly earned diploma.
Is the idea of different diploma levels practical, or just the stuff of magic and fantasy? In fact, New York state does something very much like this and has for decades. In New York, a student can earn a “Regents diploma” or a “local high school diploma.” Both require taking statewide standardized tests in a variety of subjects. Because they’re statewide tests, local school districts can’t manipulate the results.
High scores on these tests get you a Regents diploma. More modest scores are required for the local high school diploma. Both are legitimate diplomas. State colleges in New York prefer to see the Regents diploma but do consider applicants with the lower degree. California has a somewhat similar system called the “Golden State Seal Merit Diploma.”
If I had a magic wand, every Washington student would receive an education preparing him or her for college – even if the student’s formal education ends after high school. Lacking that magic wand, I’d like all students to have a chance to prove they have the skills that will get them a good job. Offering both general and academic diplomas will let students graduate high school without requiring polite fibs about what those diplomas really mean.
Dick Startz is Castor Professor of Economics at the University of Washington. He can be reached at econcol@u.washington.edu.
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