Bye Bye WASL . . .

What do you think about the changes proposed by Superintendent Dorn to the WASL? I have been asked that question multiple times since the announcement last week and I am wondering what our teachers are saying. I must admit that I did not listen to the presentation and have only skimmed the written announcement. For me, it was expected. Since it was certainly the foundation of his campaign I would suspect that the majority of teachers are in complete agreement. Or, because he has kept some of the WASL components, perhaps there are some that believe he did not go far enough.

I believe that in the beginning the WASL served a useful purpose by creating a common focus around the EALR's and then the GLE's. The creative tension of knowing that all students would be assessed and that the scores would be made public led to collaborative efforts by teachers around what to teach. This resulted in a common focus and genuine effort to support EVERY student in meeting standard, something that was not present prior to this testing.

I also believe that there are other ways to hold us and students accountable to meeting the standards and that some of the proposed changes do that in ways that may save money while providing data in time lines that can influence instruction. So, in this regard I support those changes and believe that the WASL in whatever form or name has in the last two years not been the major focus of our work. That has been replaced by Classroom 10, a change that should become the focus of OSPI support efforts for all state districts.

My biggest issue remains the changes we are experiencing in math and science in both the learning targets and accountability timeline. However we measure them, we must stop changing targets. Far too much time and energy is being expended on alignment only to find that it must be revisited with the seemingly annual changes in one content area or another. Hopefully we will see an end to this as Dorn's assessment changes are implemented.

Perhaps the most intriguing part of the change will be the conversation between the Superintendent and legislators. Dorn believes he can make the changes without legislative approval, but some legislators see his proposal as more than modification and may decide that he is over stepping his authority. It will be interesting to watch as the story unfolds.