Getting testy over WASL leaves students still at risk

The Eckstein Middle School teacher who characterized his refusal to administer the WASL as an act of civil disobedience deserves to have his bloviated defense cast right up there with Hillary Rodham Clinton evading sniper fire in Bosnia.

Thumbs up to Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson for yanking him out of the classroom. Sixth-grade teacher Carl Chew makes compelling arguments against the state's Washington Assessment of Student Learning but a suspension offers a sharp reminder that he doesn't make the rules. Imagine if every teacher engorged with self-importance went rogue? Save Our Children would no longer be a mission overseas.

Like it or not, high standards are here to stay. Measuring academic progress is one way we know whether we're coming anywhere close to reaching those standards. One teacher's protest, even backed by the powerful teachers union, won't change this.

On the political hustings, the three presidential candidates are in agreement over world-class standards to navigate a global economy. Benchmarks like the WASL aren't perfect. More money and flexibility are needed. Finding room next to math and reading for other subjects, such as the arts, is necessary.

But while Chew draws kudos for his march on the WASL, public education remains stuck in a time warp. It was 25 years ago that "A Nation at Risk" shocked educators and lawmakers with a withering critique of public schools. The outcry over declining academic standards jump-started education reform.

Some 90 million children later, an update claims a stunning lack of progress. Among many basic deficits, one in four high-school seniors cannot glean basic information about subway fares by reading a Metrorail guide.

Seattle doesn't have light rail, but don't breathe a sigh of relief yet. "A Stagnant Nation: Why American Students are Still at Risk" argues that a lack of political will and attention paid to three priorities — school time, teaching and standards — have harmed students. Two out of five high-school seniors lack skills commonly taught in seventh- or eighth-grade math. Reading skills have declined for students of all backgrounds, including those with college-educated parents.

The report is part of a nonpartisan education campaign funded in part by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation. Its 30 pages should be seen not as an exact recipe but a wake-up call to keep pushing, even when some, like Chew, push back.

The anti-WASL crowd is unwittingly behind a Trojan horse for all sorts of anti-movements, with targets ranging from academic standards to high-stakes testing. They are behind the times. The WASL is a moving target evolving to accommodate the needs of students as we speak.

Buried in the latest anti-WASL Sturm und Drang are insightful points that deserve airing. Teachers are forced to spend too much time preparing students for a test too narrow to be useful. Concerns over the erosion of recess, free time and the freedom for those eclectic teachers who best captivate students are well-founded.

The response is common sense. If teachers are using curricula based on statewide standards, and the WASL tests are based on those standards, there should be no need for 11th-hour tutorials. But the reality is, much of what goes on in the classroom is not related to the standards. That's an instruction issue and teachers can't evade it by pointing the finger at the WASL.

Another needed fix is the WASL's pass-or-fail rigidity. For graduating seniors, amassed credits, grade-point averages and WASL scores are correctly fixed. But such inflexibility in the lower grades robs us of meaningful information from the WASL. We need to know whether a student's failure on the math section came at the hand of algebra or more basic calculations. Moreover, fixating just on passing WASL ignores the incremental improvements students make.

Another weakness is the test's inflexibility when it comes to special-education students and those who don't read English. Administering the test to students who don't have a remote chance of passing it serves no purpose other than to humiliate. Special accommodations are the right response, but ought to be just the beginning of developing workable assessments of students who won't benefit from the WASL.

We've got work to do. The U.S. will need to hire 2.8 million new teachers due to upcoming retirements, high turnover and growing enrollment. Prima donnas need not apply.

Lynne K. Varner's column appears regularly on editorial pages of The Times. Her e-mail address is seattletimes.com">lvarner@seattletimes.com; for a podcast Q&A with the author, go to Opinion at seattletimes.com