Ding-dong! The wicked WASL is dead!

Parent Cafe
1

<p>I’m sending this to my D who will be happy to learn that the infamous WA state test is going to bite the dust:</p>

<p>[[WASL</a> is on its way out | Top Stories | KING5.com | News for Seattle, Washington](<a href=“http://www.king5.com/topstories/stories/NW_011609WAB-wasl-being-replaced-TP.d7ef437.html]WASL”>http://www.king5.com/topstories/stories/NW_011609WAB-wasl-being-replaced-TP.d7ef437.html)

</p>

<p>^^Mrs. Bergeson underestimated the power of the freshly WASL-ed 18-yr old voters :)</p>

2

<p>But there will be a replacement exam, right? Won’t a new exam have problems also?</p>

3

<p>ya but how much money are we gonna spend now to do research for a replacement test?</p>

<p>and are we gonna get rid og those “educators” who approved the idea in the first place?</p>

<p>I dont think it was a good test
I think it is ridiculously expensive for a test where they do not release the " results’ only the scores.
THe only time you even get to see your childs results, is if you make an appt- and then you are not allowed to take notes of your childs efforts.</p>

<p>Of course I am in Seattle where we are closing schools to save money, but we are going to be spending $1.5 million on upgrading the ventilation system in a building that is less than 10 years old.</p>

4

<p>Over a BILLION taxpayer dollars wasted on this misguided test.</p>

5

<p>Thank goodness.</p>

<p>Way back when, one of my children (early grade school at the time) was a guinea pig for an early test run of what was to become the WASL. Terrible results and I went to the teacher to discuss my concerns about my child’s low score. She assured me the test was flawed, experimental, yadda yadda yadda… I shouldn’t worry. They should have dumped it then.</p>

6

<p>An update:</p>

<p>[Education</a> | Schools chief wants delay in math, science graduation requirements | Seattle Times Newspaper](<a href=“http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/education/2009329752_webwasl11.html]Education”>http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/education/2009329752_webwasl11.html)</p>

<p>No math or science graduation reqs for a while.</p>

7

<p>We still have NCLB. </p>

<p>Oregon is more smarter than Wash. We got rid of that thing years ago when were poorer than them Washingtons. </p>

<p>I still got to work on my English. (shades of W)</p>

8

<p>For some reason, public schools in Oregon had and perhaps still have, a stronger foundation and better results than the educational systems in Washington.</p>

9

<p>Classic liberal Washington State stupidity. Spend a FORTUNE researching, designing, and administering a test that will measure your third-rate educational system against itself. Build a huge bureaucracy behind it. Ignore the cost savings you could have enjoyed from the beginning by instead using a NATIONALLY NORMED test which already exists (one that would actually prepare your students to at least be better equipped to compete against the rest of the country).</p>

<p>But here comes the PRICELESS part… When your huge fiasco fails miserably, make a plan to take the same pathetic path all over again. Spend more money designing a new useless, inefficient tool. Fail another generation of students. Push for more redistributed wealth to pay for your folly.</p>

10

<p>i don’t live in WA, but I applaud the death of state-standardised testing anywhere.</p>