WASL Week--The Front Page Stories
Driving back from the WERA conference this week gave me a unique chance to pick up several of the Sunday newspapers from around the state, and the majority had this week's WASL window as a front-page story. This is the first class that must pass the WASL to graduate (or meet the standard in a different way, see here) so it's a pretty major event in education here in the Evergreen State.
The Yakima Herald-Republic talked quite a bit about the anxiety incumbent in the tests. The first section gives a nice overview:
It's not quite pass or perish, but it may seem pretty close to that for the thousands of Yakima Valley 10th-graders who will begin taking the first WASL that counts Monday. The Class of 2008 is the first class that will need to pass the Washington Assessment of Student Learning to get a high school diploma.
"I'm just nervous because it counts so much for you," said Brittney Segura, 15, a sophomore at East Valley High School.
"It's stressful thinking I have to pass it to get out of high school. It's just one more thing that I have to do to get into college."
..........
"I don't think we should be required to take this test, we already have SAT stuff," she said.
Many of Segura's peers share her sentiments.
"It's frustrating. You don't want to take it over and over," said Sammi Eslinger, 16, another East Valley sophomore.
"If you don't pass, you don't get a diploma and you don't get to go on with what you want to do in life," she said.
The Seattle Times easily has the most in-depth coverage. Sunday's front page picture lead to a double-page spread inside the newspaper proper, and the mini-site that I linked to above has excellent material.
There was also about a page and a half inside the Tacoma News Tribune discussing the test.
Please think nice thoughts about our sophomores--they could use the good karma.
The Yakima Herald-Republic talked quite a bit about the anxiety incumbent in the tests. The first section gives a nice overview:
It's not quite pass or perish, but it may seem pretty close to that for the thousands of Yakima Valley 10th-graders who will begin taking the first WASL that counts Monday. The Class of 2008 is the first class that will need to pass the Washington Assessment of Student Learning to get a high school diploma.
"I'm just nervous because it counts so much for you," said Brittney Segura, 15, a sophomore at East Valley High School.
"It's stressful thinking I have to pass it to get out of high school. It's just one more thing that I have to do to get into college."
..........
"I don't think we should be required to take this test, we already have SAT stuff," she said.
Many of Segura's peers share her sentiments.
"It's frustrating. You don't want to take it over and over," said Sammi Eslinger, 16, another East Valley sophomore.
"If you don't pass, you don't get a diploma and you don't get to go on with what you want to do in life," she said.
The Seattle Times easily has the most in-depth coverage. Sunday's front page picture lead to a double-page spread inside the newspaper proper, and the mini-site that I linked to above has excellent material.
There was also about a page and a half inside the Tacoma News Tribune discussing the test.
Please think nice thoughts about our sophomores--they could use the good karma.
posted by Ryan at 5:34 PM
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