OK, I may be narrow minded, but this bothers me. I overheard this today on The Commentators.
Here in Washington, like other states, we have the state standards of graduation. One of those is the controversial WASL, which has been under a lot of heat for being an assessment test that assesses nothing.
According to the Seattle Times, there is a total failure rate of around 5-10 percent, so presumable those kids did not graduate, or rather they did not meet the requirements for graduation.
In some schools, notably Federal Way, many of those students were allowed to attend the graduation ceremony and walk with their class anyway.
In other words, they were presented as graduates, when in fact they had not graduated.
Is this kindness or fraud?
Grads: WASL daunted some, motivated others
Some school districts allowed some students to participate in graduation ceremonies even if they hadn't passed the WASL.
Seattle Public Schools, for example, let some in English-language programs participate, as long as they had enough credits and met other criteria.
Federal Way probably went the furthest. For those who hadn't yet met all requirements for a diploma, Federal Way principals let individual students and their families decide whether or not a senior would "walk" in graduation. That felt, they said, like the humane thing to do.
Lisa Griebel, principal at Federal Way High, thinks the WASL has helped raise standards and that the Class of 2008 is better prepared than any before it. Still, she didn't want to deny any student the chance to attend graduation if he or she was close. She didn't want students to feel like failures, she said, just because they need more time to finish.
At her school, she said, about half the families said no diploma, no ceremony. The other half chose to let students participate anyway.
So exactly what was the point?
This appears to be an attempt to help them feel good and look good in the face of their failures and avoid the label of failure.
In other words, walking graduation is an empty gesture.
Maybe it is a harmless gesture, a show of unity, but to me, I see this as a slap in the face of the kids who fulfilled their requirements, and in my case, i take it personally.
A lot of kids failed the WASL and had to sweat it out. Some kids fall short of their credits, and had to bust their assess to finish and graduate.
Let's look at one kid in particular, a young lady who found she was short several credits...three classes to be exact. She fully acknowledged that she needed to go an extra mile, or she would not graduate. She signed up for extra course credit through BYU, so her final Semester, she was taking a full load at her school and was working on her correspondence courses at home at night. She finished the courses 3 weeks prior to her deadline, and passed them. As she had passed the WASL, that was not an issue. But her course load was hard and she still had to struggle to pass all her classes.
And she did.
To her the graduation ceremony was not some feel good class spirit rally, it was her reward for busting her ass and graduating.
At the graduation her Principal stood on the podium and said some profound words about the accomplishments of her class. One that stood out were the acknowledgment that her class was the first to have to pass the WASL. it was a prideful recitation of accomplishments.
It ended with her presentation of the class to the District Superintendent, and her certification that the students had successfully met the requirements of the State of Washington and were eligible to graduate.
The Superintendent accepted them and announced them as graduating seniors. Then they walked and got their diploma's.
Those words are powerful. Those words spoke to hard work and accomplishment. They did not speak to close enough. They did not speak to showing humanity to those students who didn't pass. They did not speak to concern about them feeling bad for failing.
It spoke to a celebration of accomplishment. It speaks to recognition of success.
I'm sorry for those who did not fare as well, I really am. But the girl in our story, my daughter, proved to me that there are kids who understand the real lesson: Responsibility. She could have shrugged and opted for the 5 year plan, or finished her last classes in summer school.
After all, the diploma is the prize right?
Sure, but the graduation ceremony is a prize too.
I guess what I am trying to say is that the graduation ceremony is something special, something with meaning.
It is a culmination of 12 years of work. It is a proud tradittion, a sharing of accomplishment with friends family and community.
It is a reward, and it is a privilege. Kids who have otherwise passed have been suspended from graduation due to misconduct. The ceremony is not something to be taken for granted any more than the diploma.
Except in Federal Way.
Posted by guitarplayr at June 17, 2008 01:04 AM | Email ThisSo with this "feel good" mentality what will be next? Will we have employers allow people who did not get hired during the interview process come in everyday so they "feel" like they got the job.
Posted by: TrueSoldier on June 17, 2008 09:37 PMBut another take on the WASL issue is to consider that many failed the WASL by just a few points, well within the WASL's high margin of error rate which is 10.3% (WASL is scored by humans and has one of the highest error rates of the state tests). There was not enough time to appeal the scores. Some students already had family members flying in from out of town just to learn days before the ceremony that they would not be graduating.
Also keep in mind the few kids that boycotted the WASL (go to 'Mothers Against WASL' to hear their stories). Because it was a district choice, some were able to walk and others were not, but all had met and/or exceeded all other graduation requirements and were headed for college. What harm did it do to allow them to walk with their classmates?
My son has never participated in WASL. and will be in 10th grade next year. I am bitter towards WASL because I know that it holds smart kids back, but I have told him he should take the 10th grade WASL because I want to see him walk across the stage. He says he wont. He plans to enter community college early and have the community college issue his diploma but stay at his local high school for sports. So as a proud parent, I am hoping that my district will let him walk.
Posted by: Good Golly Miss Molly on June 21, 2008 11:32 PMBut another take on the WASL issue is to consider that many failed the WASL by just a few points, well within the WASL's high margin of error rate which is 10.3% (WASL is scored by humans and has one of the highest error rates of the state tests). There was not enough time to appeal the scores.
***well, technically there was 3 years to do so, as they took it in tenth grade.
Also keep in mind the few kids that boycotted the WASL (go to 'Mothers Against WASL' to hear their stories). Because it was a district choice, some were able to walk and others were not, but all had met and/or exceeded all other graduation requirements and were headed for college. What harm did it do to allow them to walk with their classmates?
***if they 'boycotted' they have deliberately chosen not to comply with a known requirement. How is that better than a child who chooses not to take science and wants to graduate anyway?
My son has never participated in WASL. and will be in 10th grade next year. I am bitter towards WASL because I know that it holds smart kids back
***I dont see how. Granted it aint perfect but it also is not a huge burden. Sorry that seems like a cop out to me.
, but I have told him he should take the 10th grade WASL because I want to see him walk across the stage. He says he wont.
***And with that he has made a choice.
He plans to enter community college early and have the community college issue his diploma but stay at his local high school for sports. So as a proud parent, I am hoping that my district will let him walk.
***His graduation will be at the community college. he made his choice.
Bottom line, if you did not meet the requirements to graduate, how can the disctrict certify you have?
Posted by: KARL on June 23, 2008 12:53 AMMy son works above grade level but must spend a good amount of class time prepping for the WASL. Questions must be answered the WASL way where 'close enough' can get you full credit as long as you give a lengthy explanation. My husband and I both work in math related fields and are appalled by this.
I should also add that WASL has sucked up millions of dollars and countless classroom hours. Up until now the cost of WASL has been $72 per test, but the Seattle Times just reported that next year the price will go up to $112 per test (don't have the article in front of me, but I believe that is the amount).
Many good tests are out there for under $10 per test. We should only be spending a day or two on testing, not weeks! Because of the expense of WASL many programs have been cut. So I adamantly disagree with you about the burden of WASL.
At Garfield High School in Seattle, the school could not offer all the electives that some students needed for college applications. The school gave them a written letter to include in their application packet to explain the situation. But Garfield high offered all the WASL prep classes over the summer!
If I were a Garfield parent I would be mad as hell. At my son's middle school I noticed they dropped second-year Spanish class ( a class he wanted to take), but offered WASL prep class. So smart kids do get short changed. I see it all the time. This is why I boycotted the WASL in the younger grades, but I told him the seventh and tenth grade WASL would be his choice. I want him to receive a diploma even though he is college bound with or without one. I see now, why a growing number of students are forfeiting diplomas. I recently learned that home schoolers do not receive diplomas and almost all of them go off to college.
High schools may report that WASL takes 2 weeks to administer, but they prep the week(s) before and even though most kids are done in 2 weeks, some of the special ed kids take longer, so classes can't really start up again until ALL students are finished.
Generally speaking, it is only the tenth graders that take the high school WASL, but since high school classes have mixed students, all classes come to a stop during WASL. Non-WASLing students are asked to stay home!
I am just curious, what is your experience with WASL? Do you believe it is improving education?
Posted by: Good Golly Miss Molly on June 23, 2008 01:18 PMIn Minnesota's case 47,000 students were given lower scores than they deserved. Some of them were seniors that transferred and were taking the test for the first time. They were mistakenly denied diplomas and the experience to walk across the stage with their classmates.
It was a student's father that caught the error. At the time, parents were not allowed to view the test. The father, being an attorney, demanded and had to threaten legal action, before he was grated permission to see his daughter's test.
This is similar to what has happened in Washington State. Parents had been asking for years to view their child's WASL test and were denied. Mothers Against WASL led the fight, but it was only after the group hired an attorney and was prepared to take legal action when the state finally gave in. However, parents must jump through a lot of hoops to view the test and must have a school employee watch over them! They are not allowed to write down anything, or take notes of any kind. I think the state does this to protect themselves, as they know the average parent may not be able to detect a mistake.
All parents that I know that have seen the test have reported scoring inconsistencies or questions that could be interpreted in different ways . My brother-in-law used to score WASL test and he tells me it was subjective (another reason why I don't waste my time with WASL) . And by the way, my son has never taken a WASL, but last year he received a score sheet that said he passed!! How is that for reliability?
In New York's case it was elementary tests that were mis-scored. Thousands of kids attended summer school (at taxpayers expense, I might add) because they thought they had failed the state test.
The company that has made all of these historic scoring errors, inculing the SAT error just a few years ago, is NCS Pearson the same company that scores WASL.
Posted by: Good Golly Miss Molly on June 23, 2008 07:23 PM