Is the State Test Needed?
Posted by drpezz on June 8, 2008
Washington State’s mandatory test, which needs to be passed to receive a diploma, is called the WASL. Recent articles have noted the recent announcement that 91% of the students passed—if you do not count the students who dropped out.
By my figuring, this means about 68% of the original class of 2008 passed the state test. The education gurus generally list Washington’s graduation rate as 71%, which seems to imply that the $113 million we pay annually for the WASL is really just confirming what we already know about the kids we already know have problems.
What do we do instead?
