Once again, some members of the Legislature are attempting to de-link standardized tests from graduation requirements at public high school throughout the state. And once again, they are selling students short.
Some 20 years ago, then-Gov. Mike Lowry articulated the importance of linking standardized tests to graduation requirements: “These reforms were historic because, for the first time in our state’s history, they made schools and students accountable for learning — not just following regulations or sitting through the required number of classes.”
Those words still carry weight that should be heeded by legislators. For all of their flaws — and there are many — standardized tests provide some assurance that a diploma from a Washington high school means something. Most important, they ensure that each school throughout the state is meeting a minimum standard for instruction rather than passing students simply to boost graduation rates. The needs of students in, say, the Wahkiakum School District might be different from those in Vancouver Public Schools, but there should be some standard measure for comparison.
Currently, Washington students must pass 10th-grade tests before receiving a diploma upon completion of 12th grade. In the past decade or so, the goal posts have moved from the Washington Assessment of Student Learning to the Measure of Student Progress to the Smarter Balanced assessment. But the basic premise that students must meet a minimum standard has remained stable.
Now, at the request of state superintendent Chris Reykdal, legislators are considering House Bill 1599 and Senate Bill 5548 to eliminate that stability as a graduation requirement. The House bill was introduced by Rep. Monica Stonier, D-Vancouver, and lists Reps. Paul Harris, R-Vancouver, and Sharon Wylie, D-Vancouver, among the co-sponsors. Both bills are in committee.
For Stonier, this is familiar territory. A former teacher and teaching coach, she wrote last year in an opinion piece for The Seattle Times, “Some students are simply not great at taking tests. Many have high GPAs, robust vocabularies and critical thinking skills, but when put in a high-pressure environment with a No. 2 pencil and a Scantron sheet, they freeze up.”
We can empathize with students who succumb to pressure, but we are guessing that future employers will be less forgiving. Telling a supervisor that a task was not completed because you do not perform well under pressure is more likely to have them seeking a new employee rather than adjusting the expectations of the job. And the fact is that a vast majority of Washington high school students are able to pass the requirements for graduation.
The legislative bills seek an alternative path toward graduation for students. That might include acceptance into an apprenticeship program, passage of a military aptitude or industry-based exam, or earning certain scores on a college-entrance exam.
It is a change that long has been sought by the Washington Education Association, with teachers complaining they use classroom time “teaching to the test.” But it must be noted that if teachers are comfortable using standard metrics for assessing students within their classrooms, they should be comfortable with metrics that allow for comparisons between schools.
Eliminating those metrics will lower expectations for students throughout Washington. Holding students, teachers and administrators accountable through standardized tests is a reasonable process that should be preserved.
