Having published five op-ed pieces and a dozen letters to the editor regarding the WASL, I finally give up. The public at large will probably never get it.

Most Washingtonians firmly believe the WASL — formally the Washington Assessment of Student Learning — accurately measures academic skills. They are also certain the WASL holds standards high and schools accountable. Ever hear a public figure argue otherwise? For most publications and most readers, further debate seems useless.

We have only our bumper-sticker, sound-bite culture to blame.

There is, however, one missing component in a final WASL analysis: an insider’s report on how WASL implementation has eviscerated time-honored curricula. I am talking about the traditional competency parents expect their kids to acquire before graduation.

The truth has become the shady secret everyone in public education refuses to confront: Under political pressure, many tax-supported schools in Washington have simply degenerated into WASL factories.

Whatever happened to the quaint notion that teaching to a test was inherently unethical? Weren’t we teachers supposed to inculcate students with the requisite knowledge base, skills and concepts and then test for mastery? Starting from the test and working backward to ensure passing used to be considered cheating, but cheating to pass the WASL is precisely what many public schools do.

In language arts, my field, Shakespeare and other classics take a back seat to WASL preparation. If last year’s WASL required poetry analysis, a new decree makes certain everyone covers poetry before this year’s test. As WASL questions change, so do curriculum scope and sequence.

Teachers drill, drill, drill until students follow the exact format of proven WASL responses. Practice forms duplicate WASL templates. Past WASL questions become new writing prompts. Precise WASL vocabulary is practiced weekly.

Two weeks before each year’s real WASL, schoolwide cramming begins in all disciplines covered by that test. During the two weeks devoted to WASL testing, the entire schedule changes. Regular learning in real classrooms screeches to a halt. Kiss goodbye 20 of 182 teaching days right off the top, and kiss goodbye the units we used to teach during that month of school days.

My department requires a minimum of four WASLettes (lessons based on WASL format) to be completed each semester. Every WASLette takes a day to prep, often two to administer, and a day to evaluate, gutting a week previously devoted to mainstream curriculum.

With eight WASLettes due each year, this practice cheats students out of an additional 24 instructional days. Added to the 20 already tallied, the WASL now displaces more than two full school months previously devoted to core curricula. That’s just about a full grading period or one quarter of the school year.

So what gives? Sections of the curriculum we used to consider essential, that’s what.

Those who need a structured academic focus the most, freshmen and sophomores, lose the most. In fact, many schools now encourage ninth graders to “voluntarily” take the 10th grade WASL. Of course, by law a school cannot force freshmen to take the test a year early, but just how many 14-year-olds do you know who can listen to an assistant principal’s recommendation and then say, “No”? If they fail as a ninth grader, it’s one WASL strike against them. Other consequences remain unclear.

When was the last time the public saw these WASL facts in print?

With most faculty members content to follow the WASL flock, and most administrators breathing a sigh of relief over acceptable reading and writing scores, why won’t the public just accept curriculum cuts in support of the WASL?

I honestly believe most parents will be appalled at the notion their children are covering 25 percent less than in pre-WASL years. Some high schools actually send kids home early every Friday so teachers can brainstorm WASL prep. Yeah, right. How does less teaching time improve education?

Any taxpayers out there approve of getting less for your tax dollars? Is this not institutionalized deception bordering on fraud?

Who will be held accountable?

In the short run, those within the system who oppose the WASL status quo will pay the price. Reprisals for speaking out are easy to arrange in the workplace. Micromanage the rogue teacher’s classroom; take away his autonomy. Discredit the malcontent with negative evaluations, and assign him an undesirable class schedule. Force the whistleblower to leave ASAP. After four decades in the classroom, I’ve seen it all before. The long-term accountability we all want in public education won’t happen anytime soon, and it certainly won’t happen in a WASL factory.