Press Room   Press Releases   Publications   Photos   AWSP Blog - The Comp Book   Opinion Editorials/Letters   Articles   Multimedia   Contact Us   Facebook Page   Twitter

      Print this page
      Email to a friend

Home Press Room Articles

The Olympian
January 20, 2006

Hearings start on WASL bills

By Heather Woodward—Olympian staff reporter

OLYMPIA - Whether a failing score on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning should prevent a high school student from graduating was the topic of much debate during a public hearing before state lawmakers Thursday.

Under state law, this year’s high school sophomores are scheduled to be the first class in the state required to pass the 10th-grade WASL to graduate. They will take the exam in March and April.

The Senate Early Learning, K-12 and Higher Education Committee heard testimony from almost 40 people about three bills related to high school graduation requirements. Slightly more than half voiced support for either revising the way the WASL factors into graduation eligibility or eliminating it as a requirement altogether.

But many others urged lawmakers to retain the system that exists today.

“The standards that are tested in the WASL are good standards,” said Paula Quinn, principal at Lydia Hawk Elementary School in Lacey. “Please continue to hold us accountable.”

One of the bills discussed Thursday would scrap the WASL as a graduation requirement, though 10th-graders still would have to take the test as required for state accountability under the federal No Child Left Behind legislation.

Two others would revise the way WASL scores factor into a student’s eligibility for graduation.

A bill brought by former Gov. Booth Gardner would allow students — starting in the 2007-08 school year — to choose other types of assessments to show that they meet state standards. Those assessments could include portfolios or other tests such as Advanced Placement exams or the SAT.

“This bill makes the best of what has become a bad situation,” said Katie Woodland, a parent who testified Thursday and has two children in the Olympia School District, including one in special education. “This bill gives us options. We need options.”

Another bill proposes a “weighted multiple measures” approach to graduation requirements — allowing low achievement on one requirement such as the WASL to be offset by high marks in other areas such as grade point average.

Those measures come as Superintendent of Public Instruction Terry Bergeson has weighed in with support for another bill that also would provide alternative ways — including a portfolio of work and a system accounting for a student’s grades — for high school students to demonstrate they had met state standards even if they haven’t passed the WASL. But in order to be eligible to use an alternative assessment, students would have to fail the WASL twice.

Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe, D-Bothell, said that after lawmakers, state officials and education stakeholders discuss the proposals, they could come up with legislation that combines several ideas.

“I think we can take some steps to continue to develop that assessment system,” said McAuliffe, a sponsor of the weighted multiple measures approach as well as the bill backed by Bergeson. “I think we’re going to have a work in progress.”