I have a 10th-grade daughter. That means that the Washington Assessment of Student Learning is part of dinner table conversation. My daughter is a good student, so she doesn’t worry too much about passing the WASL but she does worry about it being a distraction from her college-prep courses. Should there be an alternative to the WASL?
Everyone from former Gov. Booth Gardner to State Superintendent of Public Instruction Terry Bergeson has started talking about “alternative assessments” – finding alternatives to passing the WASL that will let students get a high school diploma. A compromise has now been worked out in the Legislature to study alternative assessments.
Trouble is, the term “alternative assessment” is used in two very different ways. Some people want alternatives for low-achievers so we have an excuse to give out unearned diplomas – rather than give the low-achievers a hand up. Others want alternatives for academically high-achieving students so they can concentrate on more challenging material.
While in principle alternative assessment has merit, the real effect of many suggestions is to give teachers or school districts the ability to manipulate the results. We’re starting to hear about “portfolios” and “senior projects.” The WASL is no doubt imperfect, but it’s objective. Any subjective evaluation invites schools to pass work that is not really up to snuff. Think not? Would you want to be the person denying a student a high school diploma because his “creative” work wasn’t very good?
A test like the WASL is good for objectively measuring whether students can apply basic skills. And for students who haven’t mastered basic skills, “teaching to the WASL” may be a legitimate way of focusing on the needed material. In contrast, for students who have already moved past the basics, a good argument can be made that the WASL gets in the way of offering more advanced material. There are several alternatives to the WASL available for objectively testing advanced achievement.
What’s really nasty about discussions of alternative assessment at the bottom end is they’re all tied up with our nation’s usual difficulties with groups marginalized by race, ethnicity and poverty. Minority students and poor students are the ones least likely to pass the WASL. That’s because they’re the students who on average get the worst education.
This has led normally sensible political leaders to say some very dumb things. In defending portfolios and other alternative assessments, former Gov. Gardner wrote recently, “Families that for generations have bumped against the barriers of racism may not value education, hard work and self-discipline…” And this from a guy who had the foresight to help bring in the WASL in the first place! Instead of trying to find ways around high standards, we should do whatever it takes to get these kids the same education that those from wealthy families get.
For high achievers, it’s easier to arrange objective alternatives to the WASL that reinforce, rather than interfere with, the teaching of academically challenging material.
Later this spring, my daughter will take her first Advanced Placement (AP) test. As a 10th-grader she’ll almost certainly do well enough to earn her first college credit. And because her high school offers more AP courses than any other school, she’ll probably finish high school with at least a semester’s worth of college credit. That ought to be good enough objective evidence for a high school diploma.
AP tests are fine because the material covered and the grades given are outside the control of the local school. But most Washington students don’t get to take AP courses. Those students who do get these college level courses usually have to wait until 12th grade, which is too late to substitute for the 10th-grade WASL.
However, most college bound students take the PSAT in the fall of their junior year. The PSAT is primarily a practice test for the SATs, which play a vital role in college admission. Let’s have every Washington student take an early PSAT in 10th grade, or even 9th grade. If a student does well enough, they’re off the hook for taking the WASL. And if they do a little extra studying for the PSAT, well, that’ll improve their SAT scores later and help them get into college. Not a bad thing.
Alternative assessment can be a plus for students for whom the WASL is no challenge in the first place. For academically at-risk students, it’s our job to get them the education they need to pass an objective test like the WASL. Or even better, get them such a good education that they too will be taking college entrance exams.
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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