Seattle Times: 10th-grade WASL (assessment test) may ditch math and science

[deadparrot]

State lawmakers appear on the verge of dumping the math and science sections of the 10th-grade Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL), and replacing them with a very different kind of test.

The idea is to do something about the fact that so few students pass the math and science sections. But the proposed remedy is generating a lot of concern because it could mean big changes in what students are expected to learn, and how they're tested.

"We need to make sure that the cure is not worse than the ailment," said Marc Frazer, vice president of the Washington Roundtable, a nonprofit group of business executives.

If the math and science portions of the WASL are eliminated, it would be the second time the state has dropped part of the exam. A "listening" section, designed to measure communication skills, was removed without controversy three years ago.

http://www.king5.com/education/stories/NW_032607WAB10gradewasl_seattleonlyLJ.1557997.html

[ixion]

1. holy crap... so they don't pass they test, so you get rid of the test?

:wtf:

That is one of the most ridiculous ideas I've ever heard regarding education. Second only, perhaps, to teach so-called "intelligent design" as science.

[lizerdbits]

3. Maybe they'll replace it with an intelligent design portion

:crazy:

[jeff30997]

4. Lol!

I thought the same thing! :)

[youngdem]

7. Yup. Hilarious.

Someone's gonna defend this too, blaming some unfair test for making our uneducated children feel as stupid as they are. Watch.

[pnwmom]

11. I bet I know a lot more than you do about this test, and it is deeply flawed.

When the 7th grade WASL questions were in the newspaper, I didn't have a big problem with them. But my husband, a PhD scientist, and my daughter, a calculus student, did. I was happy to guess an approach to the answers, but both the real mathematicians in my family thought the questions were much too vague -- that they really couldn't be answered with the limited information given.

One way I look at it is that these tests, and the whole method of teaching math, were designed to help the non-math kids show - in English sentences -- that they understood the math. It's like one of those college courses called "physics for poets." But with the kids who love math, or ESL kids or some dyslexics, they might be much stronger with actual numbers and formulas than they are with explaining in English to a non-mathemetician exactly what they are doing. In a sense, for some kids the language of mathematics is their first language -- and they shouldn't have to prove their proficiency in their first language by filtering it through their second (i.e, English sentences.)

I think we'd be better off recognizing that the traditional methods of teaching math work very well for many kids, but not all kids. We should offer instruction both in conventional ways and in the "constructivist" math used by WASL advocates. Why we can't have more than one way of teaching -- and testing -- the subject?

[pnwmom]

9. They're talking about replacing that test because it's a dumb test.

It's not anything like conventional math tests. My husband, a Ph.D. scientist, had more trouble with sample questions than I did because I'm a better guesser and he kept saying that more information was required in order to give good answers to the questions. And since the test involves so much writing, it's especially hard for ESL kids, dyslexics, and brainy math kids who actually like to "talk" in numbers.

[Rex]

2. The district that I live in has one more chance and then the state will

'takeover'. Hardly any of the students can pass the math part and very few pass the science part of the TASS/TASK. We are considered 80% 'economically disadvantaged' as a populace and produce students that can't write legibly or read English. It is typical out in these southern rural towns to find poor school systems with little or no chance for improvement. The resources simply are not there.

[Gabi Hayes]

8. this is exactly what their plan is....take over as many districts as they can.

then, eventually, turn them over to for-profit, or, even better, religious entities

long term goal: privatize education, with a basis on teaching religious fundamentalism....THEN, rewrite the constitution, with a basis on the bible, including the ten commandments in the body thereof

think I'm nuts?

start by looking up christian reconstrucitionism

see who's powerful in that movement. see what they've accomplished already, just in their massive takeovers of school boards

then you might not think I'm so crazy

[pnwmom]

10. The math WASL puts ESL students at a greater disadvantage

than do conventional math tests.

In decades past, immigrants often were able to excel at math because it was a subject that was familiar to them from their home countries -- numbers are numbers. But the WASL involves writing out long explanations to word problems, and they don't translate the questions or answers for ESL students. And because of the heavy reliance on written-out explanations, any "uneven" student whose strongest subject is math is going to find that subject filtered through his or her weaker subject -- English.

[karlrschneider]

5. While they're at it, eliminate crime...

legalize everything. :eyes:

[juno jones]

6. My kid is taking the WASLs right now...

They suck, the teachers hate them because they infringe on time the kids could REALLY be learning...also failure to pass these in 10th or 11th grade could affect your graduation a year or two later. There are also no exceptions made for children with learning disbilities so suddenly someone who has legitamate problems might be denied graduation even with an otherwise adequate school acheivement record...This testing stuff is all bullshit, aimed at destroying the public schools by tying woefully inadequate funding to an impossible goal. There have been calls to trash NCLB and I hope they succeed.

[pnwmom]

12. I think you're right. The Bushies have a vested interest in privatizing

the public educational system, as well as everything else. They have no interest in a public school system that succeeds.

And the ridiculous part of the math WASL is that it could keep some of the top math students from graduating, because the test simply wasn't designed for them. How can they justify "flunking" a kid on the WASL who has gotten a 700 on the math SAT?

[muriel_volestrangler]

13. There's some nice irony in that news report

The House bill also says the new exams "must rely" on multiple-choice questions, which the WASL doesn't. It has some fill-in-the-bubble items, but among its hallmarks are short-answer and "extended response" items that require students to solve problems, apply what they've learned, or explain how they arrived at an answer.

"Fill-in-the-bubble"? You mean like this same "fill-in-the-bubble" news report?

The algebra test would become a graduation requirement starting in —, geometry in —, and biology in — under the Senate bill or — in the House version.
...
•Passing the end-of-course exams would become graduation requirements in — and —, depending on the test.

•Until that time, students still would take the math WASL or an approved alternative. If they failed, however, they could still graduate until 2010 (under the House bill) or — (in the Senate bill) if they continued to pass math classes.

Pah, dates - who needs 'em in news reports, eh?

On the more serious subject of the tests themselves, relying on multiple-choice questions is not a good move. By 10th grade, pupils ought to be able to explain their thinking. Multiple-choice isn't known as 'multiguess' for nothing. It may be OK to use multiple-choice for part of a test, but at least half ought to involve proper writing, or showing the full working of calculations.