We’Re Making State-Standards Testing Work For Students

There has been a lot of discussion - and some confusion - about the Washington Assessment of Student Learning and its role in our state’s school improvement movement. Our experiences at Spokane’s Bemiss Elementary School - a school with students from all sorts of backgrounds - helps illustrate how the WASL can be used as a tool to reach for higher student achievement. I hope this will help put the WASL in perspective and bring some clarity to what we are trying to accomplish in our schools today.

First, it’s important to understand that the WASL is not an end in itself. It is no more or less than a reflection of how well a school is helping students reach the state’s new, higher standards, or “essential academic learning requirements.” These standards tell what students should know and be able to do at the different grade levels. As such, they are extremely helpful guidelines for both teachers and administrators.

It is not surprising that the WASL, with its scores that were publicly reported this fall, has provoked intense focus - and sometimes anxiety. This is human nature.

But the underlying truth is that if we truly believe that each child can learn and if we apply ourselves to helping them meet the standards, then WASL results will take care of themselves. If we help the kids reach for the standards, the test scores will naturally fall into place.

If we can provide support for improved learning at Bemiss, any school can do it. Located in a low socioeconomic area of northeast Spokane, we have an extremely high mobility rate - 50 percent per year - meaning we must teach new students who haven’t necessarily been through all the steps of learning the standards. In addition, about one in every six students is learning English as a second language (most of these are of Russian, Ukrainian or Bosnian background), presenting us with exceptional teaching challenges.

But despite these challenges we’ve been able to raise scores every year in fourth grade reading and math, and the last two years in writing as well. In reading, 51.7 percent of fourth graders met the standard last year and this year we went up to 65.2 percent. In writing we went from 24.1 percent to 37.1 percent. And we saw our most significant gains in math, where we went from 52.3 percent to 71 percent.

Key to our success is how we have reacted to the information that we get from the WASL. We choose not to treat it as a judgment but as helpful information a school community can use to make important improvements in teaching and learning. In our building, when we get the data back, we look at our strengths and weaknesses and say, “Where do we go from here? What do we need to do to help students improve their achievement?”

We diligently worked across grade levels - involving all of the staff. There is no way you can cram all the learning needed to do well on the WASL into one grade. In short, at Bemiss, we approach education reform seriously and it is working for our students.

The WASL is an important measure but we look at others, too. For example, we have reading proficiency tests in each grade. These are closely matched to the WASL and the state standards. They tell us if students are learning what they need to know as they go along, so there are no big surprises when they get to the fourth grade WASL.

We need to look at a variety of factors before deciding if we’re meeting with success. But in the end, we all must be accountable for student learning. And the WASL is key to this accountability.

Another important factor for success is community support. We’re blessed to be in the Spokane School District. The District has done a good job involving the community and helping parents and others understand what we are trying to do.

Bemiss got a wake-up call with low test scores in 1993. The resulting effort involved parents as never before in the education of their children. Parents remain involved and, as we now examine WASL scores, their understanding and support have been vital.

At Bemiss, we’ve seen how the WASL and state standards can be used to improve student learning. We’ve taken on the challenge and received community support in return. There’s still a ways to go. But as long as we believe that student learning can continuously improve and as long as we use the WASL as it was intended to be used, our children will get there.