School, tests and lifelong learning

Today is the first day of school for the majority of students across the country and state and that includes here in Sequim.
Yes, there will be moans and groans about leaving behind the carefree days of summer, but secretly, most students are excited to be reunited with friends and accept the challenges of another year of reading, writing and arithmetic.
As Sequim Superintendent Bill Bentley said, a new school year means a new start. Parents, teachers and the entire community must come together to ensure a successful year for all.
But a new year also brings headaches and worries to teachers and administrators as they stare down yet another set of WASL scores.
We’ve been stressing about the Washington Assessment of Student Learning scores since the state standardized test was introduced a decade ago. Meeting the standards, especially in mathematics, continues to elude many a school district.
The class of 2008 was the first to be required to pass the reading and writing portions of the WASL in order to graduate. And they did it, with 91 percent of students across the state achieving the standards. Count Sequim’s recent grads in that number.
In 2007 the Legislature delayed the math portion of the WASL as a graduation requirement until 2014, giving educators time to align questions on the math test with what is being taught in the classroom. That doesn’t mean students are dodging math classes. In order to graduate, students must either pass the math WASL (some do), or earn two credits of math after their sophomore year and take an annual math assessment.
The recently released WASL scores for 2007 show 86.1 percent of Sequim’s 10th-graders passing the reading portion of the test, 88.2 percent passing the writing test and 54.2 percent passing the math portion.
Yes, there’s work to be done, but those students who haven’t quite made the mark have several more chances to take the test.
As if worrying about the WASL weren’t enough, there is another challenge for our state’s schools called the No Child Left Behind Act.
The NCLB is a federal law enacted in 2002 that mandates a number of programs aimed at improving education by increasing accountability standards. Last week, the announcement of the schools that failed to meet the law’s guidelines for what is called adequate yearly progress was stunning.
Of the 2,110 schools in Washington, nearly two-thirds failed to make the required strides in reading and math. Two of those schools are Helen Haller Elementary and Sequim Middle schools. A third of the state’s schools now are on notice that barring gains, sanctions could be in the offing.
The NCLB focuses on test scores (the WASL, in our case) of students in different ethnic and racial groups, special education students and low-income students. If students in any one of those categories fail to meet the federal standard, via their WASL scores, the school or district faces sanctions, such as losing funding for programs needed to raise the federal standard. It’s the old mandated program without funding trick.
The school’s ability to educate the students whose test scores triggered them in the first place becomes severely hindered.
School accountability is indeed a worthy goal, but the law as written sets unrealistic targets and doesn’t always allow schools to count academic growth as progress.
Case in point: This is the fifth year NCLB has been in effect and the list of those schools not increasing accountability standards has increased exponentially, with the list more than doubling this year.
Those statistics scare parents. They naturally want to know what’s wrong with the school, but should ask what’s wrong with the law.
Schools that are labeled as academically struggling lose more than funding, they lose students, esteem and good teachers. Frankly, the NCLB act has every potential of creating elitist schools.
The act is up for reauthorization and it needs serious amending.
Remember, too, when considering education goals for our children, the answer to higher test scores, better reading skills, the ability to solve math equations and critical thinking skills might well be in our own homes.
Parents are the first teachers and ought to remain teachers throughout their children’s lives.
And students, turn off the television, put away the iPod and cell phone during class time, read a lot, know what’s going on in the world and be a lifelong learner.
Have a great year.

Mary Powell can be reached at editor@sequimgazette.com or at 683-3311.