Bills seek less WASL impact
SEATTLE – Both houses of the state Legislature have advanced bills that would lessen the impact of Washington’s high-stakes student achievement test, despite insistence by the governor and the state schools chief that the test should be delayed, but not eliminated, as a graduation requirement.
The House on Tuesday approved a bill that would establish a two-tiered system for awarding high school diplomas.
Students who pass the Washington Assessment of Student Learning or an approved alternative would be given a “certificate of academic achievement” when they graduate from high school. Students who don’t pass the WASL could earn a “certificate of individual achievement” and still graduate.
The Senate on Monday approved a bill that would delay the math WASL graduation requirement for two years and establish more alternatives for passing the reading and writing sections of the test.
The two bills take different approaches, and both sponsors said they didn’t want to eliminate the statewide test entirely.
“I like the standards and I think the WASL has created some good positive tension in our schools,” said Rep. Dave Quall, D-Mount Vernon, a retired educator.
Both sponsors, who also chair their respective education committees, felt it was time to take the WASL debate one step further than proposals from the governor or the state superintendent of public instruction, who want a delay of just the math section as a graduation requirement.
“While everybody’s afraid to blink, I think it’s time to take a little breath and say: Are we really giving those kids … the opportunity to learn and the opportunity to show they have the skills and knowledge?” said Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe, D-Bothell.
Quall said his bill would delay indefinitely full implementation of the WASL as a graduation requirement.
“It’s unacceptable to hold kids to a standard when it’s clear to me the system has failed the students,” he said.
Rep. Glenn Anderson, R-Fall City, said he expected the debate over a split diploma to be an interesting one, but he questioned whether his fellow lawmakers were pondering the right question about the WASL.
“The question is: Are we going to create a split diploma because we weren’t able to teach math over the past 12 years?” said Anderson, who voted against the bill. “Is that the right response?”
He said legislators would need to decide: what comes after high school for students with the lower-level diploma, can the state provide the vocational education those students may need, and is a two-tiered system the right approach.
As state law stands today, students in the Class of 2008 would be the first group required to pass the math, writing and reading sections of the statewide test to graduate from high school.
Quall said lawmakers are going to have some sorting out to do before they can send a WASL bill to the governor. He predicted the process would take another month or so.