Story Photos
 Photo by Greg Ebersole From left to right, Karen Juntunen of Longview, David Futcher of Kelso, Janet Cooper of Longview, Dorothy Hanson of Longview and Jim Bain of Kalama work on sample questions earlier this week from the 10th grade Washington Assessment of Student Learning test. The Daily News hosted a volunteer test session for a dozen adults. |
WASL the fuss about?
Friday, May 6, 2005 12:01 AM PDT
By Hope Anderson
Printable version
E-mail this articleThe group hunched over their thick tests, No. 2 pencils scratching faintly. One test-taker looked up and motioned to her forehead, forming her fingers into an "L" shape and mouthing the word "loser." Across the table, another groaned out loud, "Yeah, right."
It's typical tough test behavior ... but these aren't your typical high school students.
At the invitation of The Daily News, a group of 12 adults -- the youngest 33 and the oldest in her 60s -- tried their brains earlier this week at sample questions from the state's most notorious academic test, the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) exam.
Their verdict: It's not too hard.
Despite widespread criticism that the high-stakes test is too difficult, the majority of the adult volunteers said students should be able to pass the WASL by the time they finish high school.
"If they can't do this, they have no business graduating," David Futcher, a 33-year-old CPA from Kelso, wrote in a post-test questionnaire. "I think it's a great test of not just what they can memorize, but how to apply their knowledge using common sense."
At The Daily News office building Tuesday, the adults, including the newspaper's publisher and two Kelso School Board members, tackled a portion of the 10th-grade WASL, including questions from the reading, math and science sections. Starting next year, Washington sophomores must pass the WASL to graduate.
Most of the adults performed well, despite some complaining that it had been "20 years" since they had been in high school. Several aced the questions. Of the 12, 11 "passed" the test, based on their percentage of correct answers. The quickest test-taker finished in 45 minutes. The most detail-oriented tester took nearly three hours.
"If we can pass it, not having been in school for 20 years, than the kids in there, taking it every few years, teachers teaching to it, they don't have a lot of excuse in my opinion," Christine Grubbs, a 35-year-old Longview homemaker, said after the exam.
The WASL has become a hotly contested centerpiece of the state's education reform. The test is Washington's measuring stick for the federal No Child Left Behind law, which requires states to test students to ensure they are meeting learning standards.
The test is administered in fourth, seventh and 10th grade, and school districts are held accountable for students' performance.
Critics say there's too much focus on the high-stakes test, which they say is sidelining other material, such as music and art. On the other hand, test supporters say it will help guarantee students are better-prepared for the competitive working world.
The adults tested by The Daily News echoed some of those compliments and complaints.
"If logical thinking is taught, this test would measure that, but I think it would be too tempting to teach test-taking skills over actual critical thinking," Dan Myers, a 62-year-old computer programmer from Kelso, wrote in the post-test questionnaire.
Several of the adults said mandating students to pass a test is asking too much.
"Some people take tests better. A student may know the material, but this way of testing can overwhelm them," wrote Sandy Rountree, a 49-year-old clerk from Longview.
But the majority of the test-takers said students, by the time they graduate, should be able to pass the exam. Students are allowed retakes of the test, up to four tries, and may be allowed to submit other classroom work as substitution.
"The test seemed to be a bit easier than I had led to believe from our stories and the uproar we've been hearing. This is pretty basic stuff," wrote Peter York, 55, publisher of The Daily News.
The Daily News recruited the test-takers by publishing a request for volunteers in the paper, although the paper's publisher and the Kelso School Board members were asked to participate.
The adults, five males and seven females, are not a representative sampling from Cowlitz County. With only one exception, all the test-takers had at least some college education. Eight of the 12 held at least bachelor's degrees. By contrast, 13.3 percent of Cowlitz County residents over the age of 25 have four-year degrees, according to the 2000 U.S. Census, which reports that the national average is 24.4 percent.
The test administered by The Daily News included questions the state released from the 2004 exam. There were seven questions from the reading section, which asked the test-taker to read a brief essay and timeline and answer multiple-choice questions and one short-answer question. Most of the adults answered all the questions accurately.
The math section included nine questions, some of which required the test-taker to explain how the answer was reached. Having to back up their answers with explanations -- instead of just merely filling in a bubble -- surprised some of the adults.
Rountree wrote the most challenging part of the test was "having to give reasons for my answers and back it up."
That requirement has its benefits and detriments, the adults said. The extra explanation foolproofs the grading -- if students don't know it, they can't fake it -- but it also makes for more subjective grading, they said.
The adults struggled the most with the science section, which asked students to answer multiple-choice questions about a graph plotting two runners' times and distance. It also required test-takers to create and explain an original experiment, supported with a hypothesis and "controlled and manipulated variables," to gauge how a different pair of shoes would affect the sprinter's time.
"That was beyond me," one test-taker said afterward.
Before the test, Jim Bain, a 60-year-old architect from Kalama, feasted on salmon and broccoli -- "brain food," he declared, also pointing to dark chocolate peanut M&M's he brought along.
Perhaps if students also prepared in such a way, they'd have better luck, he joked. In all seriousness, though, he said, students should be able to pass the test.
"Students need to be able to think and write and figure things out," he wrote in a questionnaire.
David Futcher, who holds a bachelor's degree, finished the last question at 6:45 p.m. Tuesday -- 45 minutes after he started. He gave an OK sign to a reporter.
"I think it's appropriate," he said.
After grading his exam -- on which he got a 100 percent -- he whisked out the door to his next engagement.
"I get to graduate," he said.
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