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WASL math finds a way to worry students
Juanita Doyon Comments: The saga continues. . . .When the legislature last addressed the math issue in Washington State, they mandated that students who failed to meet the flawed standards (they're being rewritten as we speak) on an invalid test (based on flawed standards, how can it not be invalid?) must take an additional credit of "high school level" math in their senior year.
Of course, none of the legislators stopped to think at the time that mandating an additional math class for each of 27,000 members of the Class of 2008, when there was already a shortage of math teachers would pose a problem.
And none of them stopped to think that many students who fail the math WASL have actually passed 3 math classes already.
by Donna Gordon Blankinship, Associated Press
Some high school students who sighed with relief last year when the Legislature delayed the math section of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning as a graduation requirement are noticing the fine print.
School administrators say some seniors are having trouble meeting a new requirement that was part of the delay bill: Students must keep taking and passing math classes until they meet school requirements if they haven’t passed the math section of the WASL.
So administrators are scrambling to help those seniors who are struggling in math classes.
At Ballard High School in Seattle, where about 80 out of about 400 seniors have yet to pass the math WASL, Sid Glass is nervously awaiting first-semester grades.
Glass isn’t a student. He’s the administrator assigned to usher Ballard High School students toward graduation.
“The Legislature changed the rules a bit last spring and it kind of threw a wrench in a number of our kids,” Glass said recently. “The math has been a real problem this year.”
Some Ballard seniors will be taking two math courses during their last semester of high school, because that’s the only solution for those who flunk their first semester. Glass said some will be enrolled in online courses, which cost the school at least $200 per student.
Pat Herzig, a math teacher on special assignment in the Bremerton School District, said a lot of people were upset about the rules being changed.
She said she spends a lot of time chasing down seniors who aren’t ready to graduate. Much of that work involves explaining the math requirement.
Jeff Snell, principal at Fort Vancouver High School in Vancouver, said the math requirement is a challenge at his school as well, where a new state-designed math class is being tried.
Snell was confident that the math requirement would not keep students who had met all their other requirements from graduating.
THE CHANGES
As part of education reform in Washington, the Class of 2008 will be the first to have to pass the writing and reading portions of the WASL to graduate.
Those students can also fulfill the WASL requirements through a state-approved alternative or special education assessments.
The Legislature delayed the WASL’s math section as a graduation requirement until 2013, but it added the math class requirement.
Lawmakers who enacted the requirement were surprised to hear that the new rules have been such a burden for some students.
“I have not had feedback from the school administrators on this issue. Usually, if there’s a crisis we hear about it,” said Rep. Dave Quall, D-Mount Vernon, chairman of the House Education Committee. “I have not heard a word that this is unrealistic, or not helpful.”
Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe, D-Bothell, chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee, said the complaint she was expecting to hear about the math requirement is that there weren’t enough math teachers to teach the extra courses.
Lawmakers made dollars available to help students with tutoring and anything else they need to succeed in math.
McAuliffe and others wondered if the schools were having trouble accessing this extra money or if they did not realize the students could take a remedial math class to meet the requirement.
Rep. Pat Sullivan, D-Mukilteo, who sponsored some of the WASL bills last year, said there was some debate about the math class requirement, with some lawmakers saying it was enough to just take a class and not get a passing grade. But Sullivan did not agree with that approach.
“Simply having students blow off a math class and just sign up for it didn’t seem to make a lot of sense,” Sullivan said.
SHOWING THEY’RE SERIOUS
McAuliffe and Quall agreed.
“We had to make it look like we really were serious about math,” Quall said. “We didn’t want to just give the student a free ride.”
Sen. Rodney Tom, D-Medina, pointed out that students are expected to pass all their required classes to earn credits toward graduation. “It’s not unprecedented what we’re asking for,” he said.
One lawmaker involved in the WASL debate last year felt the new math requirement was penalizing this year’s seniors.
“The full distinction is just dawning on me now,” said Sen. Joe McDermott, D-Seattle. He said his intent was to give students more exposure to math if they weren’t meeting the standard.
Sen. Marilyn Rasmussen, D-Eatonville, said she would like to see the math class requirement eliminated during this legislative session before it keeps students from graduating this June.
— Donna Gordon Blankinship, Associated Press, comments by Juanita Doyon
News Tribune
2008-01-28
http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/266830.html
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
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