Tests Bring Change, Better Learning Tests Inspire Change Schools Have Yardstick, Strive To Measure Up

Some unfortunate cities seem to have given up on public education. Low-income families in Cleveland, for example, are fighting for vouchers so their kids can flee to private schools.

Washington state has chosen a different path. It intends to save the public schools. In 1993 the Legislature ordered sweeping changes. Critics complained of mushy standards, based on time in class rather than content learned. The state ordered clear, uniform standards for what students must learn. Critics complained of students who couldn’t read but got diplomas anyway. The state ordered regular tests to monitor student learning; students will have to pass the last test to get a diploma. Critics complained of ineffective teachers. The state created a system that identifies weak educators and prods them to learn better methods.

It works. Test scores are rising.

However, the schools remain in a transition period. Critics are finding fault with the creaks and groans of change. For example, some educators appear to feel panicky about the test results, recognizing that they are accountable for how their students do.

In view of the human consequences when a child isn’t learning to read, a little bit of panic is a healthy sign.

When teachers fret about how their students will fare on the new state tests, their concern leads them right where the Legislature intended: To instructional change. With extensive public input, reformers have laid out skills and knowledge that students must acquire. The state’s tests measure student compliance with these learning objectives. The tests are sophisticated, requiring students to write, think, show their work.

Anyone interested in the learning objectives - they are written in plain English and they are rigorous - can read them, at www.k12.wa.us/reform on the Internet.

Anyone interested in local schools’ scores can see them.

Principals can dig deeper into the scores. Now, they can identify teachers who need help and teachers who can provide it. This summer, teachers flocked to state seminars at which the stars of their profession taught methods that inspire children to learn.

No test is perfect. But these tests are a catalyst for better learning. They give educators a motive to change, and a way to identify what works. They give our public schools credibility, and a future.