The word is out on Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn’s plans to revamp the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL). But Dorn’s not the only one with WASL reform on his mind — legislators in Olympia introduced a handful of bills focused on reform, big and small. Here’s a quick breakdown of them all.
- Rebrands the assessment system; the system would be called the Washington Comprehensive Assessment Program (WCAP), the tests for 3-8 graders would be Measurements of Student Progress (MSP) and the tests of 10th graders would be High School Proficiency Exams (HSPE)
- Continues to use the reading and writing assessments as graduation requirements; postpones math and science assessments and graduation requirements
- Uses shorter, computer-based tests for math, reading and science (explore for writing), beginning in 2010
- Offers MSPs in fall and spring to measure student growth, and be given in one sitting
- Moves “accountability test” used for NCLB to later in the spring
House Bill 1646, Making adjustments pertaining to the high school Washington assessment of student learning in mathematics and science, sponsored by Reps. Sullivan, Priest, Kenney, Morrell, and Ormsby
- Suspends the graduation requirement for the Class of 2013 and beyond to pass the math and science assessments
- Directs the State Board of Education (SBE) to determine when the math and science assessments are ready to be used as graduation requirements
- Empowers the SBE to reexamine the science assessment and graduation requirement timeline
Senate Bill 5414, Implementing recommendations of the WASL legislative work group, sponsored by Sens. McAuliffe, King, Oemig, and McDermott
- Sets goal of creating a system of assessment that provides more immediate feedback, measures student growth throughout the year, and strives to be computer based
- Delegates work to SBE and OSPI – annual reports to the Legislature on the assessment system; review of EALRs in all subjects to better align with college/workforce requirements; and exploration of end-of-course assessments (EOCs) in science (instead of science WASL, and removes science WASL graduation requirement for Class of 2013)
- Directs OSPI to look at shortening WASL exams
- Beginning in 2010-11, students will take math EOCs
House Bill 1341/Senate Bill 5260, Motivating students through incentives to pursue post-secondary education by eliminating statewide assessments as a high school graduation requirement, sponsored by Reps. Santos, Haler, Hasegawa, Sells, Seaquist, Goodman, Appleton, Hunt, Chase, Kenney, Simpson, Campbell, Nelson, McCoy, Van De Wege, and Sens. McAuliffe, Fraser, Pridemore, Hargrove, Sheldon, Kauffman, Hobbs, Hatfield, Fairley, Roach
- Removes passing the WASL as a graduation requirement; students continue to take the exam
- Directs OSPI to shorten the 10th grade WASL exams, beginning in 2010
- Assigns OSPI, the Higher Education Coordinating Board and the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges to review student incentive programs used in other states; savings from removal of the WASL as a graduation requirement could be redirected toward recommended incentives
