Washington could soon be saying “pencils down” to a long-standing and often-criticized graduation requirement.
While students across the country take federally required high school math and English tests, Washington is one of only 12 states that require students to pass those tests before earning their diplomas. Several bills before the Legislature this session could eliminate that requirement.
It’s a concept known in the education world as “delinking,” and proponents of the effort are optimistic that this will be the year that Washington breaks the chain between Smarter Balanced assessments — or the WASL, or the HSPE, or whatever new acronym comes down the pike — and graduation.
“I’ve worked with the (Washington Education Association) in Olympia for almost 20 years,” said Rich Wood, spokesman for the state teachers’ union. “Ever since I started, testing has been a huge issue.”
The proposed bills essentially fall into one of two categories: those that would require students prove they’re ready for graduation through some other method, and those that would simply eliminate the requirement that students pass the tests.
Rep. Monica Stonier, D-Vancouver, is the lead sponsor on House Bill 1599. That bill would allow students to prove they’re ready for college or a career through alternative methods, including earning college credit in high school, earning high school credit through an apprenticeship preparation program, passing an Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate test or passing the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery exam.
Stonier, a certificated teacher, criticized the Smarter Balanced requirement, saying districts are testing students’ “ability to be equipped with the skills to pass that particular test.” She said the federally mandated tests should be used to see how the state’s schools are performing, not to determine how individual students are doing in school.
“It was never intended to be a teacher accountability tool or a student accountability tool,” Stonier said.
An issue of equity
WEA, meanwhile, prefers a cleaner approach: don’t replace the test with an alternative, just remove it from the graduation requirements.
“We think it’s just a simple issue,” said Wood, adding that teachers often express frustration at the amount of time they spend preparing students to take standardized tests.
“They’ll tell you that all the test prep and the actual amount of time it takes to give the tests draws away from actual classroom learning,” he said.
For Clark County’s largest school districts, Evergreen and Vancouver public schools, lowering this barrier to graduation is one of the priorities this legislative session. They say it’s an equity issue. Evergreen Superintendent John Steach notes that students who are experiencing trauma or other stressors outside of school are also more likely to struggle to pass the exams. State data also shows that most students of color, low-income students and students receiving special education services are disproportionately more likely to fail the tests.
Evergreen’s four-year graduation rate in 2018 was 87.5 percent, according to the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. Only 64 percent of sophomores passed the Smarter Balanced English exam, while 32.8 percent passed the math exam.
In an email to the Washington State School Directors’ Association, Evergreen officials estimate they have between five and 20 students at any given school whose graduations are delayed only because they fail to pass their tests. But those students are typically living in extreme circumstances. Some are recent immigrants to the United States and are still learning English. Others have a history of drug and alcohol use in their families. Some are homeless or otherwise financially unstable.
“To be told you’re failing is just one more brick in the wall,” Steach said. “Those are the kids it hits the hardest.”
