LANGLEY — Pencils were sharpened and brows furrowed in concentration last week as South Whidbey students began taking the WASL.
Students at South Whidbey High School, Bayview School and Whidbey Island Academy hunkered down for the annual rite of spring — the statewide assessment of high schoolers.
Testing statewide wrapped up Tuesday with students taking the writing and reading tests; math and science tests will be next month.
Middle school and elementary school students will also be tested in April and May. Students in grades three through eight will be tested from April 16 through May 4.
Passing the WASL is a graduation requirement beginning with the class of 2008. However, students will be getting a reprieve on passing the math and science portions of the WASL tests in 2008.
State legislators voted to pass a bill that would delay meeting math and science standards until 2012 or 2013.
All sophomores are taking the reading and writing WASL this week. Other students taking the tests include freshmen and seniors, who opted to take the test as practice and juniors, who need to still pass the WASL or missed it the first time.
A total of 331 South Whidbey students took the WASL this week; two ninth-graders,
235 tenth-graders, 293 11th-graders and one 12th-grade student.
The House bill will allow students in classes 2008 through 2012 to graduate without meeting the math test requirements by taking additional classes in math. It also delays the requirement to meet science WASL requirements from 2010 to 2014.
The Senate’s version would delay the math requirement for students in the graduating classes of 2008 and 2009 if they meet certain conditions; the science requirement would be delayed until 2011.
Members of the two houses will meet to work out the differences in the two bills.
In spite of the reprieve, South Whidbey school officials say it won’t help unless the state backs it up with an increase in education funding.
“We are concerned about the performance of our students on the WASL tests and examine our curriculum and instruction in light of their test score data,” said district superintendent Fred McCarthy.
“We would prefer to address student performance issues, rather than delay the mathematics and science requirements for the graduating class of 2008,” he said.
Scott Mauk, director of Bayview School and assessment coordinator at Bayview, said the delay won’t help unless the state improves education funding.
“Eliminating or postponing the standard still leaves us short on resources to get the job done,” Mauk said. “It won’t help if they don’t back it up with some real resources.”
“I appreciate that they recognize there is a problem, but we have been telling them there is a problem for many years, and we have been ignored,” he said. “Now they are really setting us up for possible failure if they don’t put their money where their mouth is.”
Mauk said schools would like to improve math instruction by decreasing class sizes and hiring more math teachers.
“Right now districts are paying way too much to meet state mandates that should be provided for under the state Basic Education Act and the state Constitution,” he said. “Under the current proposal, there is no guarantee we won’t have to cut somewhere in order to get kids more math credits or instruction.”
In 2006, 93.6 percent of South Whidbey students met or exceeded WASL expectations for reading.
In writing, 87.1 percent met the standard, and in math, only 70.1 percent met the WASL standard.
Statewide, 85.5 percent of students met standards in reading, 83.5 percent in writing and
53.8 percent in math.
