They could've chosen anything.
Longer lunches, shorter classes, lower prices at the vending machines: All seemingly viable choices for your average high school kid.
Instead, faced with the task of creating public service announcements as part of a media literacy class, students at Rainier Beach High School transformed obstinacy into opportunity by using their assignment to talk about the much-debated Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL), a compulsory test given each year to fourth-, seventh-, and 10th- graders in Washington State.
The class, made up of 14 and 15-year-old freshmen who will take the WASL next year, hosted a June 8 press conference at the school to show off their work and voice their concerns about a test that they say is poorly-written and, more importantly, over-emphasized.
That's because these students, as part of a state law that will change graduation requirements beginning with the class of 2008, make up the first wave of those who will be denied the opportunity to graduate from high school if they fail to achieve satisfactory scores on the WASL.
It is this new twist, they say, that has morphed the test from its original purpose as a tool used to assess student progress and school curriculum into a high-stakes, all-or-nothing pressure cooker that could drastically alter their futures.
"We don't mind taking it," said Jonathan Amosa, one of the students who participated in the making of the public service announcements, of the WASL. "We just don't think it should count for so much."
Their concerns, in combination with the similar concerns of those at other Washington schools are, at the very least, raising the proverbial eyebrows of spectacle-clad academics and solicitous soccer-moms alike, particularly in light of the most recent round of scores.
According to 2004 statistics posted at the Seattle School District's Web site, only 17.1 percent of the students at Rainier Beach High School met state standards in the mathematics portion of the WASL, well under the state average of 38.6 percent.
Other areas of the test were equally concerning.
In the reading and writing portions, 43.4 percent and 40.3 percent of the students at Rainier Beach met state standards in the respective categories, compared to 55.1 percent and 54.6 percent statewide.
But the numbers also tell another story.
WASL scores are improving dramatically, both at Rainier Beach and elsewhere in Washington. Most notably, from 2003 to 2004, the reading scores of Rainier Beach students jumped by 14.6 percent.
So, while it is impossible to determine the long-term impact of the WASL on graduation rates based on the statistics, there is clear evidence that scores are improving.
As is often the case, though, statistics can be deceiving and, even if scores are improving, there are still concerns about the disparity between scores at inner-city schools like Rainier Beach and schools in more affluent areas.
For example, students at Bellevue High School scored 90.1 percent, 74.6 percent, and 92.4 percent in reading, mathematics and writing, respectively, based on the 2004 statistics, scores that are remarkably higher than those found at Rainier Beach and many other Seattle schools.
While test scores have traditionally been higher in more affluent areas for a number of reasons including better funding and facilities, many, including Paula Scott, a teacher at Rainier Beach, feel that part of that disparity is due to the way the WASL test was written.
"I'm concerned about the wording of many of the questions," Scott said. "And I'm worried about any test that has an agenda."
Scott was particularly concerned with one question in the math portion of the test that included a play on words of the Mary K. Letourneau case, in which Letourneau, a local teacher, was convicted of raping one of her students in 1997. According to her, one of the multiple choice answers read "Merry Clay Lee Torno."
Additionally, as a teacher at a school with a 92 percent minority population, Scott sees many questions as being culturally biased because she says test writers assume students possess "incidental knowledge" even though many, particularly foreign students, don't.
She's also concerned that the test isn't age-appropriate because, in her opinion, the curriculum being taught at state schools has yet to catch up to the standards set by the WASL.
"The math portion is skill-based," she said. "Many of the students come into high school with one-year of algebra or less, and they're expected to get to trigonometry in one year. I've asked state officials, people in the government to take the WASL just to show them how difficult it really is, and I haven't gotten much response. There are honor students in college who would have difficulty with parts of this test and people in all kinds of professional positions who couldn't even pass it. What if they were forced to take the WASL?"
Shirley Skidmore, a spokesperson for the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, says that those in charge of writing the questions that eventually appear on the WASL participate in a careful evaluation process to ensure that the test is fair and reasonable.
"We consult educators from around the state and country," Skidmore said. "There is a very lengthy period in which we pilot different questions on sample tests before they ever reach the official test. There is also a meticulous process for scoring and spot-checking to make sure that the test is the best it can be."
Still, many feel that the WASL system is severely flawed.
According to a Nov. 8, 2004 online survey conducted by the Washington State Parent-Teacher Association, 68 percent of the respondents agreed that, "the WASL creates undue pressure on students to perform."
Although there were those surveyed who support the current structure of the WASL, many posted comments similar to the following respondent, who said that the WASL results, "suggest that the alignment between instruction, curriculum, and assessment has not occurred at scale - another indicator that the system is not ready."
While Skidmore acknowledges the concerned parties, she is quick to point out that the OSPI has done its best to create an open dialogue between students, teachers, administrators and the OSPI in an effort to continually improve the test.
"We've had a number of meetings, both formal and informal, since the WASL testing began in 1997," she said. "We've spoken to countless groups and organizations about the standards and released several versions of the tests to help students prepare and teachers design better curriculum."
Additionally, Skidmore says that the OSPI will post a complete sample version of the tenth-grade test on its Web site by the end of the summer. Sample tests for both fourth- and seventh-graders will be posted by the end of the fall.
Meanwhile, as students at Rainier Beach and other schools across the state look forward to summer vacation, they must deal with looming presence of the WASL.
It is a challenge that few of them look forward to, but unless the system changes, they have little choice but to study hard and hope for the best.
Chad Schuster may reached at editor@sdistrictjournal.com.[[In-content Ad]]
