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Don't care much about the WASL
Last week, I learned that my son goes to one of the 47 worst schools in the state.
That hasn’t been said in so many words, but that’s what seems to be implied after it was announced that Quincy Junior High School made “the bad list.”
QJHS was one of the 47 schools in the state named by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction that were eligible to apply for federal grant money set aside for chronically poor-performing schools.
I must say I was a bit shocked and troubled by the news. Sure, QJHS has its challenges, but my daughter, who is an honor roll student in high school, seemed to make it through her two years at the school without any major hiccups. And my son, who finds school more of a struggle than his sister, seems to be improving.
Then I did some digging around and discovered that the criteria for grading QJHS was based on WASL scores.
Since I found this out, I don’t care as much about QJHS making the list, because I don’t care at all about the WASL. I think it’s one of the biggest boondoggles this state has ever seen. The Washington Assessment of Student Learning was dreamed up by a bunch of politicians and eggheads living in the suburbs of the Puget Sound. Its goal is to produce carbon copy students stamped into a mold by education factories rather than well-rounded students graduating from community schools.
The WASL does not take into account a student’s cultural background, makes little accommodations for English as a Second Language students (newsflash – we have many such students in our school district), and, worst of all, it marginalizes students who cannot pass the WASL, but may have been able to earn a high school diploma through hard work and determination.
Unfortunately, our school district is stuck with it until our state government wakes up and gets rid of the WASL.
And, I can’t argue with the district’s decision to go for grant money to get off the “bad list.” But part of me wishes that the district would have told the state to get their WASL-tainted hands off QJHS.
Now, I know some will argue that the WASL is important because it tracks and measures the progress of students and what they are learning in our schools. That may be so, but there are a number of ways the same thing can be achieved without trying to cram every student into the WASL mold like they are going through a Playdough Fun Factory.
With the WASL, it seems we are now raising an entire generation of students who are learning how to take a test rather than how to live a life.
It’s time to get rid of it.
4 Comments
#2
T. Ramos commented, on March 18, 2010 at 2:14 p.m.:
I usually don't agree with this dude, I feel he mostly tries too hard to make something out of nothing, for the sake of having an "Opinion" column in the newspaper. However; there are those few times when he finds a worthy topics, such as this, in which it is difficult for most not to hold a strong opinon. I agree with Mr. Allen;I think the WASL is, as he put it,"one of the biggest boondoggles this state has ever seen." My biggest problem with the WASL is it's failure to consider students who speak English only as a second language. Having taken the WASL myself as one of those students, i can speak from experience. I struggled inmensly with the WASL. Just as Mr. Allen said, the WASL tries to cram every student into the same mold, and that is just straight-out unrealistic. Kuddos to Mr. Allen.
#3
Silver Flores commented, on March 26, 2010 at 11:03 a.m.:
"Accepting failing standards by dismissing WASL" should have been the headline. It's the us and them argument I've heard already about QJHS. My kids do fine, its those kids who are failing so what's the big deal? There are alot of schools with ESL students who have succeeded, why haven't we. The District is right in pursuing the grant money but more importantly acknowledging that we need to raise the standards for our entire student body to erase the line between us and them within our schools.
#4
A parent commented, on March 27, 2010 at 12:33 a.m.:
Please don't blame the State for adminstering a standard test and don't place blame on the students. Every parent and every teacher should be held accountable for teaching their children (classroom or at home). We should not think this test is useless; our students are tested against set standards.
Dustin commented, on March 18, 2010 at 2:02 p.m.:
Agree 100%. WASL is a waste of time and money.
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