http://www.spokesmanreview.com/pf.asp?date=090803&ID=s1407413
The
Spokesmanreview.com
Monday, September 8,
2003
Spokane
WASL examinations flunk
on many levels
Donald
C. Orlich - Special to The Spokesman-Review
School reform in Washington
and 49 other states has been reduced to a single high-stakes test. Nearly $1
billion has been spent on reform by the Washington Legislature since 1993. The
WASL -- for Washington Assessment of Student Learning -- costs over $100
million and the current contract with Riverside Publishing Company accounts for
a paltry $61.67 million. The state superintendent of public instruction has a
$200 million reform slush fund to advocate the WASL, with none of that funding
supporting teachers' classrooms, student services, school programs,
instructional materials, new books or teacher education.
The WASL is given each
spring to fourth-, seventh- and 10th-graders in the areas of reading, writing,
listening and mathematics. Science WASL results will be announced for grades 5,
8 and 10 this fall. It must be noted that the science pilot test scores have
been kept secret for the past three years. One must ask, "why?"
But what did we learn from
the spring 2003 WASL administration?
The vast majority of
children from low-income families, as measured by eligibility for free or
reduced lunch, did not meet the standard. That is, they failed.
Up to 96 percent of
children classified as being in "special education" did not meet the
standard. They failed.
Hispanic children tend not
to meet standard.
Migrant children at all
levels tended to fail all WASL areas being tested.
Examining all data sets for
the 222,000-plus fourth-, seventh- and 10th-graders taking the WASL, only one
in three met the standard in all four subjects being assessed.
Breaking it down by ethnic
groups, Asian children led in math, while white children lead all other ethnic
groups -- American Indian, black and Hispanic.
Seventh-graders tended to
score rather poorly compared with fourth-graders, while grade 10 results were
mixed, showing increases and decreases from previous years.
The WASL test items are
allegedly keyed to the state standards called "Essential Academic Learning
Requirements," or EALRs. When the WASL is compared with the EALRs, some
interesting artifacts appear. At least 12 of the mathematics standards for
grades 4, 7, and 10 are identical. Even the Stanford Research Institute study
of 2002 concluded that the seventh-grade WASL math test is more difficult than
the 10th-grade WASL math test.
Are fourth-graders being
prepared with those touted 21st century skills to work for the U.S. Bureau of
the Census? Writers of the 2003 fourth-grade WASL think so. Questions on the
test required fourth-graders to design surveys to solve problems being posed.
(Being the author of the book "Designing Sensible Surveys I," can
assure you that fourth- graders are not really up to it.)
Probability problems are
scattered throughout the test. Do you have a clue what a "function
machine" is? I don't. Fourth-graders are expected to write a rule to use
one.
Do you remember
"measures of central tendency" -- mean, median and mode?
Fourth-graders are expected to apply those concepts that are taught in
statistics.
Do we have "world
class standards" or do we have asinine ones? Take your pick.
Several studies have
analyzed the WASL, but I shall summarize mainly from the Washington Education
Association January 2003 report the following six major deficiencies of the
WASL.
There are no predictive
validity studies relating to the WASL.
There is a high correlation
between the WASL math tests and the WASL reading tests. This could account for
almost one-half of the math score.
Subjective scoring leads to
arbitrary decisions. There can be a 28.9 percent chance that a child has had
his or her test incorrectly scored.
The arbitrary standard will
be raised each year, eventually reaching 100 percent.
Correct answers are
determined after students' answers are read.
On some questions, students
can earn full points, even if they get the wrong answer.
The WASL has appearances of
a technical disaster.
Do you know that all
student tests are shredded? In Nevada, Minnesota and New York City, scorer
errors were common. Your child could be kept from graduating because of
incorrect scoring and you have no recourse. You lose your Fifth Amendment
rights of due process in school reform.
With passage of the federal
No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, 95 percent of all children in all categories
-- special education, non-English speakerrs and the like -- must pass 95 percent
of all WASL tests or either the federal government or private contractors will
confiscate local communities' public schools.
There is a ray of hope. The
NAACP in Florida filed a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights, charging
that the Florida test (similar to the WASL) is discriminatory. Our attorney
general should do this for the children in the Evergreen State. Only the future
of your child is at stake.
Former Gov. Booth Gardner
cautioned against using the WASL for competition and rankings and advised that,
"If you want an academic contest between schools, then hold a
tournament."