Remember my rant about the WASL a couple of days ago? Guess what? Only six more years to go…
The math WASL will be jettisoned by 2014. Jettison. It means thow away, get rid of, chuck out, throw overboard. Good idea. High time. Instead, students will have a choice about how to prove are learning appropriate math skills. High stakes tests are bad. That is why they are slowly being chucked out.
Read this from the March 13 AP story:
OLYMPIA — State lawmakers and Gov. Chris Gregoire are phasing out the Washington Assessment of Student Learning’s math section as a high school graduation requirement, replacing it with tests on individual math courses in 2014.
On Wednesday, majority Democrats released their final state budget, unveiling $3.2 million to develop the individual course tests that would replace the math WASL as a graduation requirement in six years.
The high school class of 2013 remains the first group of students who must pass a math test to graduate. But the state will now give those students the option of passing either the WASL or individual course exams. In 2014, the math WASL would be jettisoned.
The best way to teach and test math has been a source of debate in Olympia in recent years. Last year, the option of testing students based on the course, such as algebra or geometry, instead of a comprehensive test was vetoed by Gregoire, who favored studying the issue first.
The governor now supports the change to “end-of-course” tests, after proponents worked closely with her. Gregoire said, however, that it’s crucial the 2013 deadline for a math-proficiency graduation requirement not be moved, despite the transition to a new testing method.
This is the first step to giving teachers back the freedom to teach math in a way that is appropriate for students. I applaud the legislators. They made other steps this session. You can now take the WASL in another language if you just arrived. I encourage legislators to continue to look at the damage the WASL has done and to continue repairing the mistakes made.
