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Home / Legislative Action Center / Issues - Education / Another Good Use for the WASL |
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Another Good Use for the WASL |
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Written On: June 23, 2006 |
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Understandably, a lot of attention is being focused on the WASL test (Washington Assessment of Student Learning). The test is designed to ensure that students graduate with the skills they need to succeed in life.
This is the first class of 10th graders who must pass the WASL in order to graduate. Some argue the test is too tough, while others say that by testing skills that are on an 8th grade level elsewhere in the world, it’s not tough enough.
Almost overlooked in this argument are the students who don’t graduate at all.
A recent study funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the publishers of Education Week magazine found that almost one-third of American students never graduate from high school. Almost 35 percent of boys fail to graduate; 27 percent of girls never get their diplomas.
In Washington state, it’s even worse.
Even though we have fewer students in poverty, fewer English-language learners, and fewer special ed students than the national average, our graduation rate is slightly below the national average. While we rank above average in minority graduates, more than half of our African-American and Hispanic students never finish high school.
The personal, social and economic costs of failing to graduate from high school are enormous.
According to a study presented last year at Columbia University:
• Over a lifetime, an 18-year old dropout earns $260,000 less than a high school graduate and contributes $60,000 less in tax revenue.
• High school graduates live longer, are healthier and are less likely to use publicly financed health care. For example, if the 600,000 18-year olds who failed to graduate in 2004 had graduated, it would have saved about $2.3 billion in taxpayer-funded medical care over a lifetime.
• Adults who lack a high school diploma are at greater risk of being on public assistance. Taxpayers would save $8 billion to $10 billion a year if all the drop outs currently receiving public assistance had graduated from high school.
So, what’s the answer?
This is where the WASL comes in.
Based on scores from its 4th and 7th grade tests, the WASL can serve as an early warning system, identifying the students who need extra attention. Using individually-focused initiatives like the VOICE program in Issaquah and the AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) program nationwide, faltering students can get the help they need to succeed in school and graduate.
VOICE (Volunteers of Issaquah Changing Education), is a program started in 2004 to use community volunteers as mentors and is privately funded by parents, businesses and those in the community. Currently, 50 mentors – business owners, young professionals, and parents – are working with 57 students in the Issaquah school system. The program requires one-on-one mentoring for one hour per week, but most mentors do more. The volunteers, who work closely with the teachers, are carefully matched with their students and are encouraged to stay with that student as he or she moves from elementary school to middle school and high school.
Nationally, the AVID program is another model worth considering. AVID is a fifth- through twelfth-grade program designed to get “average” kids into college. The typical AVID student has potential but may be from a disadvantaged background or be the first in their family to consider a college education. AVID students learn organizational skills and good work habits, and get academic help from tutors and other students. AVID’s emphasis on consistency and individual attention make it a good model for helping all struggling students, whether college-bound or not.
While programs like AVID and VOICE are extremely important and valuable, ultimately it is parents, grandparents, relatives and friends who make the biggest difference. Nothing beats their loving care and gentle helping hands.
Early intervention is the key.
Regardless of how you feel about the WASL, we all want our students to be more successful. Let’s use the WASL tests in the 4th and 7th grades to highlight those faltering students; then we can organize volunteers and work with parents in our communities to mentor them.
Making sure these students graduate from high school will be an investment in their future and ours. Besides, it is just the right thing to do!
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