Delegates reject proposals to eliminate, postpone WASL graduation requirement

Updated September 30, 2005

WSSDA’s Legislative Assembly has overwhelmingly rejected the idea of canceling or even delaying use of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) as a high school graduation requirement.

Meeting in Spokane, the Assembly turned down two proposals to "de-link" the WASL from the state’s new graduation requirements. Delegates also voted to oppose any move to lower the standards for passing the high school WASL.

Beginning in 2008, students must pass the 10th-grade WASL by the time they finish high school to earn a Certificate of Academic Achievement, which is required for graduation. This year’s sophomore class will be the first to come under the new requirements.

The Assembly, which formulates WSSDA’s stance on legislative issues, considered two proposed positions regarding the WASL as an exit exam — one to postpone the requirement, the other to eliminate it.

Proponents of changing the requirement emphasized they were not opposed to education reform and high standards. They argued, however, that the state has not provided the resources and structure that schools and students need to achieve the standards.

"The system is not ready," said Ricardo Espinoza of the Pasco School Board, which submitted the proposal to cancel the WASL graduation requirement. "We’ll be punishing kids — minority kids and kids in poverty."

The Yakima School Board put forth a proposal to postpone the Certificate of Academic Achievement requirement until the state has fully implemented assessments that will serve as an alternative for those students who are unable to pass the WASL because of different learning styles or lack of proficiency in the English language.

"The state has never given us the resources we need to achieve our worthy goals," said Yakima board member Barbara Greenberg. "Retakes alone are not going to do it. We’re supposed to be here for the students. They shouldn’t suffer because the state isn’t ready."

Kennewick board member Lynn Fielding responded, however, that there will always be inadequate resources. The solution, he said, lies in reallocating the resources that districts already have. "If the problem were only money, we wouldn’t see districts with the same size and demographics getting different results," he said. "By asking for more time, what we’re really saying is we don’t want to do this. And we’ll hurt more kids in the long term by delaying."

"We have a Hobson’s choice," said Everett board member Paul Roberts. "We can go backwards and graduate kids who don’t meet the standards or stay with the requirements. It’s not a perfect answer, but we have a program in place to graduate more kids who meet the standards."

The proposal to eliminate the WASL as a graduation requirement was turned down on a weighted vote of 184 to 35. In a show of hands, the proposal to postpone implementation was also rejected by a significant margin.

Delegates did adopt two other positions regarding the WASL. The Assembly went on record opposing a reduction in the level of performance needed to pass the 10th-grade WASL from "proficient" to "basic." Also adopted was a position calling on the Legislature to fully fund the development and implementation of alternative assessments for the WASL.

The Assembly adopted more than 40 positions for the coming legislative session, many dealing with funding in areas such as special education, all-day kindergarten, school construction, student transportation, and employee health care benefits. Delegates again adopted a position calling on lawmakers to fully fund legislation mandating K-12 programs and services, and underscored their action by adding it to WSSDA’s standing legislative positions.

Delegates concluded the Assembly by recommending which of WSSDA’s positions should be given the highest priority when the Legislature meets next year. The results will be used by the WSSDA Legislative Committee to formulate recommendations to the WSSDA Board of Directors, which in turn will adopt the association’s 2006 legislative package at its November meeting in Seattle.

#  #  #