Washington State got rid of a learning assessment test called the WASL this year.
You can read more about the WASL here, but to make a long story short, the majority of kids dislike taking tests, the majority of parents dislike hearing their kids whine about having to take a test and finding out that little Johnny and Suzy aren’t learning, and the majority of teachers don’t like having their competency as an instructor questioned, so the test went buh-bye with the arrival of the new state schools Superintendent.
They should have run a check before doing that
It may be the most hated test in Washington history. But the Washington Assessment of Student Learning also has contributed to student achievement and has helped teachers focus on state education goals, according to a study released Wednesday.
An in-depth exploration of six school districts across the state by the Washington, D.C.-based Center on Education Policy found that the WASL and the standards on which the statewide test is based have had a significant impact on what is being taught in Washington classrooms.
Teachers think the extended-response format of the WASL has helped students do a better job of explaining the thinking behind their answers and become better writers, the study says. They do not believe the WASL has stifled their creativity.
The teachers also credit the WASL with bringing extra help to students who may have been ignored in the past, like those learning English for the first time and kids in special education.
Many of the study participants would like to see state education officials improve the WASL rather than replace it with a new test, as schools Superintendent Randy Dorn has promised to do.
Most pro-teacher’s union types will rail against anything coming out that says anything positive about anything they oppose. Yes, the CEP leans right most of the time, but they are not being the least bit unreasonable here.
In the Obamanation, success will be punished if it doesn’t make Glorious Leader (or his campaign financiers) look good.
Having 4 children who all passed the WASL everytime they took it, with several of them scoring the highest in their class, the test was still a ridiculously expensive way to find out information that could easily have been evaluated on existing tests. Washington State tried to reinvent the wheel and did so in the most expensive way possible.
The test basically encouraged teachers to teach to the subjects covered by the test, and many of the questions were ridiculous at best. They didn’t teach subjects, but how to take the test. That doesn’t result in learning, only in vapid, robotic responses.
Having actually read some of the questions for the writing portion of the tests, and then seen the evaluations or the student answers by the State, I’m 100% convinced that some of the evaluators, and a significant number of the teachers, couldn’t have passed the test.
The real evaluation would have to be based on other criteria, like:
1) How did students passing the WASL do on the SAT and ACT?
2) How did they do on application to colleges, especially colleges outside of Washington State?
3) For those that didn’t go on to college, how did they do in trade schools, or how did they do on the job if they took jobs.
Very well stated, Bill. My mother, an educator with around thirty years’ experience, has said many of those same things multiple times about the WASL… as well as about the ridiculous rules governing exactly what can and cannot be said by proctors during the exam (she works mainly with special-ed students, who still have to take the WASL even if they are unable to read the questions).
The problem with the WASL was it morphed from a teacher evaluation tool to “something else.” Everything from the application of the tests to how long it took to get results to how those results were used was poorly executed.
I can assure you I have heard all sorts of parental complaints over the WASL, and they all centered around the same things that people complain about when one complains about the government. The WASL was just another poorly executed idea in a long string of Washington State educational screw ups.
Phil, it helps to think of parental problems with the WASL this way:
What parents wanted: an achievement test
What they got: King County Critical Areas Ordinance
Now, we homeschool here at Chez Pacheco. My take on all the WASL complaints I heard was “homeshcool” and vote no on everything.
I was not a popular person in these discussions.