Big WASL changes on way?

Shorter exams. Faster results. Translating parts of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning into six languages.

Big changes may be ahead for the WASL, the state's high-stakes, high-profile exam.

With a five-year testing contract set to expire this fall, state lawmakers are discussing adjustments that would address many criticisms of the WASL, which is given each year to students in third through eighth grades and grade 10.

Educators have long complained, for example, that the WASL eats up too many days of instruction, and teachers can't use it to figure out what help students need.

In her budget, Gov. Christine Gregoire included money to create short classroom tests that teachers can use to determine whether students are on track to pass the WASL, and another set to diagnose why they fail. She supports reducing the length of the WASL for students in third through eighth grades (but not grade 10), which would mean less testing time, quicker results — and cost savings.

She also proposes translating the math and science sections into six languages, so that many immigrant students can show what they know even if their English skills aren't strong.

In all, Gregoire is asking for about $38 million for the WASL program in the 2008-09 school year. That includes about $4.3 million in enhancements, and takes into account an estimated $12.5 million in savings from shortening the exam.

The suggested changes, developed by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), don't excite WASL critics who object to using any one test as a graduation requirement and to spending so much on testing.

"The conversation should be about increasing funding to lower class size and attract and retain highly effective teachers," said Mary Lindquist, president of the Washington Education Association, the state's largest teachers union.

But many education groups welcome them.

"They've responded to the big issues from the field," said Jerry Bender of the Association of Washington School Principals.

The WASL covers reading and math at each of its seven grade levels. In some grades, the exams include writing and science sections, too. WASL results are used by the federal government to judge whether schools are making adequate progress under the No Child Left Behind Act. And starting this spring, high-school students must pass the reading and writing sections of the 10th-grade test to graduate.

Last year, state legislators delayed making the math exam part of the graduation requirement, but students who fail must pass additional math classes to earn a diploma.

The last WASL contract, with Pearson Educational Measurement, was signed in 2004. The state has received bids from a number of contractors, and may split up the work among several.

This is the best time to make changes, said Joe Willhoft, assistant superintendent for assessment and student information. Making adjustments in the middle of the contract "isn't usually cost-effective," he said.

"This is an opportunity for us to take a step back and look at what we want this testing system to look like."

OSPI already is in the middle of revising the math standards, which likely will mean changes to the math WASL. That will be rolled into the new contract, too.

And state legislators continue to discuss replacing the math and science WASL with a series of exams given at the end of math and science courses, although the governor didn't provide money in her budget request for that.

Of all the ideas under consideration, however, the diagnostic exams seem to generate the most enthusiasm among education groups. Many large districts already have developed such tools, mostly in reading, said Paul Rosier, executive director of the Washington Association of School Administrators. But many smaller districts would like them, he said, and most districts lack a good diagnostic exam in math.

Educators also are happy about the prospect of shortening the WASL by reducing the number of questions that require students to write out their answers.

OSPI hopes to be able to eliminate one to four days of testing in fifth through eighth grades, depending on the grade. In grades three and four, the test may still last the same number of days but would take up less time each day, Willhoft said.

No reductions are proposed for grade 10, however. Shorter tests can do a good job of judging whether students should earn a passing grade, Willhoft said, but don't show precisely how far they fell under or soared over the passing bar. Because the 10th-grade test is now a graduation requirement, he said, OSPI wants to be able to give students an accurate view of where they stand.

For students learning English, OSPI wants to translate the math and science sections of the test into the six languages most commonly spoken by students in Washington schools. In a recent report, OSPI said that those languages are Spanish, Russian, Vietnamese, Ukrainian, Somali and Korean.

Students wouldn't get a written exam in those languages, Willhoft said, but would receive a CD or DVD they could play to hear or view a translated version of the questions. The CD/DVD approach would cost less and be easier to administer, he said.

There also are proposed changes for students in special-education programs, such as improving the Braille version of the WASL, and a read-aloud CD for students with dyslexia.

Now it's up to state legislators to decide which, if any, of the options to support.

If approved, most of the changes could be completed by the end of 2009, Willhoft said, except the new math exam, which isn't expected to be ready until spring 2010.

Linda Shaw: 206-464-2359 or lshaw@seattletimes.com