Anyone know how to pronounce HSPE? How about MSP? An even greater challenge would be to mutter either word with any degree of animosity. No such doubts existed with the old WASL, right? That word used to erupt like a thunderclap in discussions about high-stakes testing of students in public schools. Back then, countless parents and teachers expressed three basic complaints: the tests took too long, they dominated educators’ attention to the extent of interfering with learning, and it was unfair to use mastery of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning as a requirement to graduate from high school.
Well, the WASL is dead. A cessation of hostilities has descended on the issue of high-stakes testing. (Meanwhile, frustration builds elsewhere. Recession-induced angst grows in the arena of funding public education.) New on the scene this year are the more difficult to pronounce HSPE (High School Proficiency Exam) and, for students in grades 3 through 8, the MSP (Measurements of Student Progress). Statewide scores from the student assessment tests were announced Tuesday, and, although there are wide variations from district to district, the overall performance by students seems to be about the same. That’s a good thing. As Howard Buck reported in Wednesday’s Columbian, if a lot more (or a lot fewer) students were passing this year’s student assessment tests, valid concerns would be raised.
Besides, it will take a few years — plus research from a 31-state consortium that’s working on the issue — to accurately measure the effectiveness of these new tests. Already, though, a few of the complaints about the old WASL seem to have been addressed to some degree. These tests are less time-consuming than the WASL. In most subjects, the number of questions has been reduced by about one-third. The 10th grade HSPE now is a five-day test, replacing the cumbersome eight-day WASL that began in 1997.
Fortunately, one of the old, irrational gripes about the WASL remains ignored: that it was unfair to require students to pass it to graduate. We’re glad the mandated proof of proficiency remains. Taxpayers deserve such an accountability of their investment, and for a high school degree to mean anything, standards are needed. We’ve often unscrolled compelling arguments to support this theory. To begin with, high school graduates are required only to demonstrate 10th-grade proficiency, a reasonable request. Also, students have three years to pass the HSPE, ample tutoring and other helpful programs are available, and alternative assessments are in place for students who cannot pass the HSPE.
