Dori writes…

 

State high school graduation requirements demand that students pass the WASL in order to graduate… Unless too many of them don’t do well enough on the WASL, in which case the standard will be put “on hold” for one year “and one year only”.

 

This gets students in the following year’s class to understand how “serious” state educators are about the “importance” of the WASL. Armed with that new sense of seriousness, those students then go out and… fail the WASL in even greater numbers. But that’s okay. The state will once again put the WASL requirement on hold for one more year. “But c’mon you guys… YOU GUYS!!!… we really, really mean it this time!!!”

 

That process repeats itself pretty much every year. It’s really quite the delightful little educational dance.

 

With that as background, let’s take a look at what’s happening at the Secondary Bilingual Orientation Center in Queen Anne. The students don’t speak or read English well enough to take the WASL – much less pass it. School administrators say by most other measures, the school is doing well. But it’s embarassed by its WASL failure rate.

 

So do we need to fix this problem? The fixes are a perfect example of government inefficiency. One plan would be to simplify the language used in WASL questions. So we’d dumb down the questions for the English speaking students to accomodate the small number of esl students?

 

But, get this – they say the simplest solution would be to translate the tests into every kid’s native language. If they do that at all grade levels, it will cost $220,000 to $440,000 per language. If they do just the high school exams, that will cost $60,000 to $120,000 per language per year. A staggering amount. I don’t know how many languages the tests would have to be translated into – but the cost would almost certainly run into millions per year. Which leads me to ask the humble question: HOW THE HECK CAN IT COST HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS TO TRANSLATE ONE TEST???

 

But let’s get real here. The reason we require students to be able to read and speak english in America is because it’s the only way for them to have a solid shot at financially succeeding in the job market in this country. You know – the job market the schools are supposedly preparing them to enter. But, of course, that plays perfectly for lawmakers on the left. The more incapable people the schools crank out, the more adults they’ll have dependent on the benevolence of government in a few years.

What do you think? Should we keep the WASL where it is for the ESL students? Or should we spend the money for those students needs to be accomodated? Tell me your opinion on the big show Tuesday afternoon.