Grabbing WASL by the horns

I didn't always love the WASL. When my kids were little, I braced myself and crossed my fingers that they would pass.

It got more serious for me when I became a special-education teacher. Suddenly, I needed to do more than steel myself for April. So I asked: "Why do kids have to do standardized tests anyway?" I thought it might help to have some ammunition for my WASL bashing. I put in to score the test, sure I would find out that it was unfair and unnecessary.

I was surprised at what I learned about how the state designed and scored the test. Every attempt was made to try to decipher barely legible writing, to understand student "intent," to give students points for what they "did know" and not score them down for what they didn't.

I also came back charged up. I used the knowledge that I got to help my students. We raised our scores in writing by 35 points that year. With clear information about what the test looked like, we learned how to succeed.

Later, I turned my attention to other Washington Assessment of Student Learning tests. I scored the reading WASL and put in to write "items" to find out how the questions are constructed.

That experience was invaluable because of the knowledge I gained and the educators I met. One was a teacher from Moses Lake. Her school was 60 percent free- and reduced-price lunch, and 95 percent passing the WASL. She changed my perspective from one of "only privileged kids have a real chance at the WASL" to "everyone can pass it — we just have to learn how."

She didn't spend the year dreading the WASL. She took the test by the horns. She got the whole school behind it. And she made it fun. Her students didn't stress when it came time to take the test. They were ready. Critics could say she was teaching to the test. But I know she was really teaching to the standards that the test measures. And she made it a game.

That was "The WASL Secret." Once I realized that the WASL was a giant puzzle to be solved, I dug in. The next year, I scored the math WASL. This year, I'll tackle science. I teach it like a game to my special-education students. We cheer, we problem-solve, we devise strategies for success.

I have heard the criticism that kids are too young to have to practice test-taking like this. I disagree. I wish I had gone through this in elementary school. It might have saved me a lot of grief when I got to college. It's not just about assessment. It's also about achievement, and we want our kids to achieve.

I think about our culture and the things we do find time for. How many of our kids are spending a great deal of time on Xbox, or Wii or DS? If they put a little of that time into solving the WASL puzzle, think what they could do. We can make it fun. I've seen it happen.

I urge parents to pull up the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction's Web site and download released items for the WASL their son or daughter will be taking. Then take the test themselves. If they have questions, ask the teacher or the principal about them. Read everything you can about the WASL. And find out what standards it is measuring. Check out WASL workbooks. Find out all you can.

The fact that I'm a WASL fan doesn't mean that I buy everything. I still don't think we've got the math WASL or math instruction right to be competitive in the world market. But we're trying. And if we make it a goal, we will succeed.

If we see the WASL as a puzzle that we make time for, we'll get it right. We want to help our kids solve it because it's important. But it can be fun.

I love the WASL. I think it's a puzzle we all can solve. But I also think it's important to solve it. We just have to learn how.

Jan Maxson is a special-education teacher at Sherwood Elementary in the Edmonds School District. She has a doctorate in communications from the University of Washington.