Inlander Commentary: The WASL Dilemma

There's an interesting commentary piece by Dr. Donald Orlich of WSU in this week's The Inlander entitled The WASL Dilemma. He talks about the connection between poverty and academic success, which we all understand. My problem with the article is in statements like this, his lead sentence:

The Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) is causing deleterious effects on poor, disabled and minority children by creating a permanent "underclass" with just a hint of covert institutional racism.

Doesn't this seem exactly backwards? Pushing aside the argument about whether the WASL is a fair test or not, aren't we doing the right thing by pointing out the disparities that exist between white and minority students instead of a) pretending they don't exist or b) hiding them in other data? Lest we forget, here's the achievement gap for Washington State, as measured by the percentage of kids who passed the reading WASL:

4th Grade Whites: 84.5%
4th Grade Blacks: 69.1%
4th Grade Hispanics: 61.1%

10th Grade Whites: 77.0%
10th Grade Blacks: 53.7%
10th Grade Hispanics: 53.1%