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Editorial: WASL proctors should be neutral

Tue., July 21, 2009

For at least the fourth time, irregularities have been reported in how the Washington Assessment of Student Learning – the infamous WASL – is administered in Spokane Public Schools. This time an elementary school principal is in the spotlight.

The WASL’s controversial career is about to end over concerns that include cost, but the reported breach of protocol at Balboa Elementary School is still disturbing, especially considering the role played by the person who is that school’s instructional and administrative leader.

But even though district superiors instructed Principal Pat Lynass to handle things differently in the future, no discipline will be imposed, at least for now. She reportedly was proctoring the test in one sixth grade classroom where she had concerns about how seriously students were taking it. At one point she looked through a completed test booklet. In addition, she followed a girl into the restroom to talk about her attitude regarding the WASL.

The matter has been turned over to the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, which could recommend further action, including invalidation of the scores.

In 2002, test scores for 12 students at Moran Prairie Elementary School were invalidated because the teacher failed to follow WASL guidelines. The teacher was reprimanded.

Another teacher at Longfellow Elementary School resigned after disclosures that she gave a student the answer to a WASL question.

In 2005 a kindergarten teacher at Browne Elementary School, in her capacity as a parent, was investigated on suspicion that she had provided her seventh-grade son with questions for the WASL. She maintained the questions had come from another student who took the test earlier, but she reportedly helped her son think about the question.

Such misconduct is not acceptable, but it is predictable, given the consequences, which include professional reputations, careers and, potentially, even state and federal funding. That kind of pressure could and should be removed for high-stakes assessments by taking the administration out of stake-holders’ hands and turning it over to independent contractors. Costlier? Yes, but worth it if that’s what it takes to assure reliability and remove the motive for cutting corners.

Meanwhile, Washington’s public schools have had enough experience with the WASL to expect compliance with test protocol. Principals, of all people, should be enforcing the standards, not bending them.