Costly WASL may face redesign

OLYMPIA — Cutting back on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning has come down to an issue of money, not educational philosophy.

A bill passed in the Senate on Wednesday would require state education officials to redesign the elementary- and middle-school reading, math and science tests to reduce the number of open-ended questions to reduce the cost of grading them.

The Legislature budgeted $22 million to administer the statewide test in 2009, but testing companies estimate the cost could increase by $15 million to $25 million when a new contract begins this fall.

Reducing the number of open-ended questions would cut the cost of grading and administering the test by about $10 million, said Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe, D-Bothell, chairwoman of the Senate Education Committee.

The increase is driven mostly by higher demand for testing because of the federal No Child Left Behind education law, said Joe Willhoft, an assistant superintendent of public instruction. There are only a handful of major testing companies.

"It gives more kids the opportunities to show they meet the standards through [using] multiple choice," McAuliffe said. "It's still the same test with validity and reliability we always ask for."

McAuliffe added that fewer open-ended questions would allow students who don't have a full grasp of English to show they meet standards through other types of questions. Showing work in math problems would be cut under the plan.

Reducing open-ended questions would not diminish results, said Judy Hartmann, an education-policy analyst for Gov. Christine Gregoire.

The changes would also cut the time students spend taking the test, which takes several days away from regular class work during two weeks each spring.

Because the WASL is used as a graduation test in high school, state education officials recommended against shortening the 10th-grade tests.

The class of 2008 is the first group required to meet the state's new graduation requirements, which include passing the writing and reading sections of the WASL. During last year's session, lawmakers delayed the math and science tests as graduation requirements until 2013.

Senators also approved a change in the bill that pitted them against their counterparts in the House, passing an amendment that reintroduces the development of end-of-course assessments for math as an alternative to the WASL.