WASL

We're half way through WASL--the Washington Assessment of Student Learning--Miranda and Jackson half way through taking it, I half way through administering it.

(It looks nothing like that photo, by the way. But if anybody put images even roughly approximating the real WASL in any public domain, well, I don't want to think about what would happen. Suffice to say, even the teacher's union lawyer probably couldn't help you on that. I asked Jackson and Miranda to re-enact their taking of it so I could photograph them, but they declined. For an example of a WASL-like 8th grade reading test, click here.)

I don't mind the idea of standardized tests, or WASL per se. It does seem strange in the implementation, though. The tests don't really seem to matter for much--for students--until 10th grade, where I guess you have to pass them to graduate. Except that math is going to be dropped out of that requirement.

Miranda is pretty stressed about hers. 3rd grade is the first year you take the test, and she's been nervous, and then distressed that she didn't finish in the "regular" time. (You have all day, if you need it, but there's a long test-taking window each day. Most kids finish in this window--ours is 165 minutes--and those who need extra time go to the library to keep working.) She was also telling Sandy that they have to put these cardboard screens around their desks so that other kids can't look at their work.

I like that they ask some questions that require some explanation and examples. The type of question they ask, though, seems to fall in a rather narrow range. The questions aren't terribly analytical, and the reading "ability" examined is fairly specific--from what I've seen of Released Items, which are rejected test items, and from what I've heard students say after the test. For all the hue and cry about "critical thinking" (an expression I despise--I prefer analytical thinking), the reading questions don't really require all that much of it.

So, all in all, a mixed bag, in my mind.