It is that the time of year again when I start to feel really depressed about what the WASL and the No Child Left Behind Act has done to our public schools.
Next week, our school's schedule will be all out of whack to accomodate the WASL. Lots of classes will have a lot less instruction going on because many students will be missing from class because of the WASL. All this will happen for another week in April. Students only have 180 days in the school year to learn all they are supposed to learn, and a lot of instructional time is lost to these tests.
The Washington State Constitution guarantees all students the right to an education. But I really believe the WASL exams are doing more harm than good.
Even the State Legislature is having to face some of the reality about the cost of the system. According to an article in today's Seattle Times, more changes may be made to the elementary and middle school level tests because they cost so much to grade. They already caved in on the math WASL because so many students failed it. Is all of this money and time really improving instruction?
I don't have a problem with the idea of finding out if students can read, write, and do math before we give them a diploma. I do have a problem with the way the tests are administered, and how so much of a student's educational career rides on this one test. There are a lot of students that get incredibly stressed out during these exams.
I would propose that the state put MORE money into the tests, and give the tests outside of the school day. Have testing locations and test dates on weekends like they do for SAT exams. We have testing locations for driver's exams.
Let our 180 school days be a time for learning, not turning everything upside down to meet governmental testing requirements. A lot of teachers are going to be spending a lot of their time proctoring tests, and baby-sitting bored students who can't do much of anything when they finish the test, because students aren't allowed to leave the room, have certain types of school work out, or listen to music with headphones.
Our first and second periods are going to be well over an hour long, but the others will be shorter than normal. Most classes will waste part of those long classes because the students aren't used to focusing on one subject for that length of time. Other classes will have less time to keep up the the 1st and 2nd period classes. Teaching young people is a challenge. It is much more challenging when we have unusual schedules. Students have been trained to believe that days like these are ones where we "shouldn't have to do anything". Most teachers fall for it. I know there have been times when I have.
Read about it and share your thoughts.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
13 comments:
I never really understood the purpose of the WASL. I could be wrong, but I thought it was just suppose to check how stupid people were and as a way to evaluate schools.
How come the US Constitution doesn't say anything involving teaching? I think it's unfair how some schools have diffrent ways of testing their students. Some states have it easier, others don't.
Another thing I find messed up is that no one really knows what the right thing to do is. Just because you know kids are failing doesn't mean throwing a test their way will help them succede. I don't why the money isn't actually going to teachers and schools.
I think math makes people fat. It just lets people sit all day calculating numbers. A physical WASL would be helpful to stop the obesity in the country.
Kingsley C ~ 2GS
p4 WTP
Wasl has always sounded usless to me. First off, It's not something that you can specifically study for. If the teachers dont teach something that happens to be on the WASL, thats not the students fault. I agree that all students should learn how to read and write and know how to do math but a test like the WASL isnt going to prove that you havent learned anything. Second of all, I think its ridiculous to have 70 min. class periods. Kids that dont have to take the WASL are already talking about skipping those school days. Last of all, when hearing "WASL" most students think scary, stressful, difficult etc. I believe it creates a lot of anxiety and stress for students, which we already experience just from the loads of homework. Especially waiting for your test results to come in the mail to tell you if your allowed to graduate or not. In other words... I'm NOT pro WASL
I've always hated the wasl. Not because it's hard, not because it's long, not because its the most boring two weeks i've ever spent at school, but because i think it's pointless! Why the crap would the government shell out money to make a standerdized test, that half the kids don't put any effort into anyways? The level of work they put on this thing, is easy enough for most middle school kids to accomplish, and i KNOW that highschool kids are able to do it. I agree with kingsly when he said that since everybody does have a right to an education, the money should be put to good use, like to the teachers, and schools, and books, and equipment. When the scheduals change like this, we view it as an easy two weeks, because we can count on our friends who take as long as they can, spending the whole day in the library, just so they don't have to go back to class. It's a joke, and sure, i think we should be forced to take some kind of assesment that classes what we've learned, but i think every state should have the same one, and it shouldn't depend on us graduating, because some kids arent test takers! And even if they are, it puts SUCH stress on some students, unneeded stress for a very dumb reason.
All right, thats it, good day mr.coraggio
First of all I just want to make it clear that I hate the stupid WASL more than anything especially since they made the outrageous rule that you have to pass the math WASL to graduate. i mean seriously high school to me is already stressful enough to succeed and pass with good grades let alone have to take a pointless test that everyone racks their brains about and now so many more people are going too stress more because you have too pass the math part too graduate unless you pass a full year of algebra 2. lets see..... too graduate you also need too meet a certain credit requirement which means you need pass all classes with at least a d too earn credit and then you need to complete a senior project and then on top of that now the WASL. truthfully you can be good at math and not pass the WASL because of a number of reasons whether it be test anxiety or just too much stress you cant remember anything so in my opinion this test is pointless and you should not need to pass it the test should just measure what skilll level your at.
kyle ehlers
p.5
i hate the WASL. i think it is a big waste of time and that its not beneficial. i think that the tests aren't really doing any greater good.i think that the fact that our class was supposed to be the first to have to pass it was a joke, i think that if students aren't passing it, they obviously aren't being taught it correctly. Basically lets just get rid of the WASL!kaity!
This is for Friday when I was at the basketball game.
I think that the WASL is just a big waste of time. There are plenty other ways to evaluate students. G.P.A is the one way that makes most sense to me. If students are able to maintain a certain G.P.A in school than they obviously can pass a test which asks questions a 5th grader can answer. Also, the fact that if you don't pass the WASL then you can't graduate just puts added stress on the students who are alredy stressed about all the homework they get at school. The students who don't even try in school are definitely not gonna try on the WASL so the government shouldn't waste our time and their money on funding a test that is said to evaluate our skills when we can be evaluated in the classroom. I say get rid of the WASL once and for all. -Daunte Period 5
i also think that the wasl is a waste of time not only cause the people are taking the wasl and they wont be in their normal classes "learning" but also all the rest that have different schedules like OSC or Running Start...those people might not make it to class, as well as the rest of the students... since most 10th graders and taking the wasl the rest of the classes are going to be slow and extra boring...and thats just the half of it...because the wasl really does take a lot of the "learning time" and we have to wait for luch even longer...all we can really do, just like you said mr.c is listen to music...and sit...and that does not seem like schoolto me... everything is just A WASTE OF TIME!!!!
I can't say I identify with all of the blogs on here maybe because I never felt stressed about the wasl. It just seemed like another test that we have to take but thats just me. One thing that reallllly bothered me this year was that they are taking off more of the open ended questions. So not only are the kids going to be wasting time like Sam said in the library doing nothing, but they are taking a multiple choice test! OMG really? its a one in four chance that you will get the right answer thats not a true assesment of the student's knowlege. BUT Mr C I do not agree that the students neccessarily coerce the teachers into wasting time, while its true that we all like a good goofing off class period most kids hate sitting doing nothing when they could be doing something else, which is also true for the wasl. If at the end of the session they are not done they have to go finish somewhere else, so why not just do that with regular schedule classes??? It would make so much more sense if the kids got enough time for most to finish then ship the rest off to the cafeteria or library, then the other three quarters of our school wouldnt be so interrupted. The lengthy legislation period isnt helping either, if they could just try something new every year until they got it right that would make sense but for only a couple years of students to need to pass to graduate seems a little ridiculous. I think kids hate the wasl because its not really about us, its about law makers and the administration wanting to the teaching methods. If the students were the main focus of the test I think it would cater to our needs more than those of the administrators and legislators. So I dont think the wasl is all bad it just needs some re-evaluation and a little fresh perspective.
The Wasl test in high school has become more and more important as years hav passed. I agree with you on having the test out of school so that our schedule is not affected and it does not take away from our learning. But i do believe that there should be more tme put into preparing the students for this test, it is a grauation requirement. Although science is not required to be passed, which to me is incredibly hard for a sophomore in high school,there are still three other subjects a student has to worry about. It also hurts teachers because they have to squeeze time into their schdule to help kids prepare for the test. Personally, i believe that the WASL test is a good challenge for kids to overcome to grauate but the scheduling could use some revising.
-Tyler Manke
Period 4
the wasl is such a drag, it seems pointless and like we all would just rather do our regular school work than spend 2 hours in a weird classroom, with a teacher youve never met, eating goldfish crackers, when youre really not hungry, while you try and keep your eyes open long enough to finish the test. half the kids dont even try, or spend their time sitting there so that they can get out of class after the test is over. the wasl is almost like an SAT without the "pressure." were judged off our test scores, our schools reputation is lying in the test scores, its allll about the test scores! when really, the work we put out in our classrooms, and in our homework is a far better representation of who we are as students. the effort we put out on a test that we are told before hand we dont even need to pass 2 of the 4 of them is far less than that of an exam at the end of a semester where we spend nights on end studying for it.
at the end of all this, as much as "they" beleive the wasl will determine who will go somewhere with their lives, who are they to put a grade on our future?
-kellymacdonald
Hello! So i agree with what you said about having the wasl tests be a test that you have to take out of school like you do with the sat and driving tests, that seems way more logical because the wasl is a test that you have to pass to graduate high school...they should be way more proffesional about it. But then you think about how easy the wasl was it would be really annoying to have to take your free time out of school to take it. But then actually it would make sense becasue you can just leave when your done, and not have to sit in a little classroom witing for the bell to ring. But yea i can relate to the teachers you said that are just like yea.....monday through thursday this week were just going to sit and do nothing..haha basically every single class of mine did that haha it was nice to have a break from classes like spanish and stuff but it was a huge waste of time. Well ill see you in fourth!!!
<3 Mattison Graham
Dear Ladiesman217,
I agree that the WASL test really do take time away from our learning experience in school. We already have enough four day weeks due to waiver days and more time away from school or under a weird schedule will only further hinder the amount of stuff we learn. Students are less likely to take the classes during WASL week seriously if only small portions of the class show up because they failed the WASL in a previous year and have to retake it to satisfy graduation requirements. I mean i even i thought classes during WASL week were a joke and went out to get some food to eat, i was not the only one however, who had the same idea i ran into multiple others as well while off campus getting food during class. These things are not okay to do but when the class cant even function, whats the point of even going to class? If standardized tests like the WASL were given outside of the regular school day the problem with interfering academic schedules would be eliminated. The main problem is that people focus so much on the bottom half of students that the top half who actually wants to learn and has shown dedication to school gets forgotten.
Love Jeremy Patoc
I do not believe the WASL is a good test. For one it does not test the intelligence, for most part, of any students except for maybe the category of math. Most students just speed through the WASL and put in no effort and still pass. Why put in effort on a test that gives you back no feedback on what you did right or what you did wrong and for the most part how well you do on it does not matter anyway. The only thing that counts is if you pass it, or not. Also the government should put the money to better use and try to help a greater majority or students pass high school and try to attend college in order to give them the opportunity to get a better job and have a more successful post school life. Also, many teachers even are forced to go to the extent of making students PRACTICE WASL procedures. That cuts out of the teachers' teaching time and gives less time for the students to learn about the subjects they are taking. WASL should be dropped. -Tucker Rockwell
Post a Comment