WASL replaced with new HSPE test
Class of 2012 catches a break with shorter, budget-friendly exam
Last year, as a sophomore, Lily Katz suffered through two agonizing weeks of Washington’s intense standardized test known as the Washington Assessment of Student Learning or, more commonly, the WASL, which has been implemented since 1997.
“The only thing that got me through was knowing that I would have late arrivals on those same eight mornings for the next two years,” said Katz.
Now that the WASL has been retired, only five of those late arrival days remain in Vashon High School’s schedule. The replacement of the WASL is due to Washington State’s budget cuts and the election of new State Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn and his campaign promise of greatly altering, or completely doing away with the WASL.
Though this year’s sophomore class will not be required to take the WASL, they will need to complete a statewide-standardized test issued in March and April called the High School Proficiency Exam, or HSPE, in order to graduate. Changes that the HSPE brings are minor, but will make an impact on VHS students and staff as well as Washington State government.
The HSPE will provide less testing for sophomores, more instructional hours for educators and will save thousands of dollars for the state of Washington compared to the WASL. The money saved is greatly in part to the reduced number of written responses as opposed to multiple-choice. For every written answer, there is a state employee who must be trained and paid to grade it properly. Less written responses also means that the science, math, and reading exams will only take one day instead of two. As with the WASL, it will only be mandatory for students to pass reading and writing assessments in order to graduate high school. If the math assessment is not passed, a student is required to take full credit math classes every year until they graduate.
Although VHS freshmen, juniors and seniors must say good-bye to a few of their extra late arrival mornings in April and March, the HSPE carries with it many positive modifications to Washington’s system of standardized testing.
“In some ways [the HSPE] is positive because it will take less time out of the instructional year and some of the WASL portions were redundant,” says Hanson.
Hanson’s main concern with the new test is that it may fail to “assess students well enough on some higher level thinking, rather than just rote memory.”
Until March, 2010, VHS students and staff will have to wait to see if the HSPE will live up to the high expectations growing among students, parents, instructors, government and community members.
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