10th graders will take WASL early next year

  • Eric Stevick<br>For the Enterprise
  • Monday, March 3, 2008 6:55am

High school sophomores will take two sections of high-stakes state exams a month early in spring 2006 as the state scrambles to meet a new deadline for reporting test results.

Getting early results should help students prepare for retakes earlier and schools help them get ready, local educators said.

Next year’s 10th-graders, the first class that must pass the Washington Assessment of Student Learning to graduate, will take the reading and writing exams March 13-17 and the science and math exams April 18-21.

“It’s certainly a change from what we have done before,” said Kim Schmanke, a spokeswoman for the state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

WASL exams have traditionally been given in April. A state law passed this year requires the release of high school WASL scores by June 10, beginning in 2006. Results typically have been available in late summer, shortly before school starts.

The state superintendent’s office spent months looking at options to get the results ready by June without moving the testing window from April. It couldn’t come up with a solution.

It did not want to change the testing format, which includes multiple choice, short answer and essay questions, Schmanke said.

High school students only have to retake the reading, writing and math WASL exams they failed in order to graduate. The requirement to pass the science portion doesn’t take effect until 2010.

The early results provide a more meaningful time frame for students to prepare for the first retake testing dates in fall 2006.

“Most educators around the state are frustrated we don’t get the results on those tests before the beginning of the next year,” said David Golden, principal at Lynnwood High School.

Golden doesn’t know how the long break between testing weeks will affect classroom learning.

“It’s uncharted territory,” he said. “We will see.”

The state is not changing the WASL testing period for younger students. Testing in grades three through eight will take place April 17 through May 5, 2006.

Eric Stevick writes for The Herald in Everett.

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