From: WASL Technical Report

http://www.k12.wa.us/assessment/TestCoordinators.aspx#techrpt

"APPROPRIATE USE OF TEST SCORES

Once tests are administered, WASL performance is reported at the individual, school, and district levels. The information in these reports can be used, along with other assessment information, to help with school and district curriculum planning and classroom instructional decisions. For example, if students in a school are not performing well on the WASL Reading assessment, a careful look at the strand scores (Main Ideas and Details of Fiction; Analysis, Interpretation, and Critique of Fiction, Main Ideas and Details of Non-Fiction; Analysis, Interpretation, and Critique of Non-Fiction) can assist in planning instruction in future years. It may be that students as a whole are successful in comprehending and interpreting literature but are not very successful with informational text. Curriculum planning can center on how to improve materials and instruction related to informational text.

While school and district scores may be useful in curriculum and instructional planning, it is important to exercise extreme caution when interpreting individual reports. The items included on WASL tests are samples from a larger domain. Scores from one test given on a single occasion should never be used to make important decisions about students' placement, the type of instruction they receive, or retention in a given grade level in school. It is important to corroborate individual scores on WASL tests with classroom-based and other local evidence of student learning (e.g., scores from district testing programs). When making decisions about individuals, multiple sources of information should be used and multiple individuals who are familiar with the student's progress and achievement (including parents, teachers, school counselors, school psychologists, specialist teachers, and possibly even the students themselves) should be brought together to make such decisions collaboratively."