Why Delinking Graduation from the Smarter Balanced Assessment & Other Tests is the Right Thing to Do.
I am writing to encourage everyone who values the 13 years of hard work completed by students as they reach their senior year to call their state legislators. My request is simple: ask your legislator to pass HB 1046. This bill will serve to delink all high stakes testing requirements in all subjects from high school graduation.
While this bill does not eliminate the state tests, it DOES eliminate the high stakes attached to these tests, which is a big step forward in supporting students whose futures have been severely damaged by high stakes testing.
In 2013, Seattle Times writer Donna Blankenship notified her readers about some stark facts tied to the state’s End of Course Math tests:
“But that doesn’t make life any easier for the nearly 7,000 students in the Class of 2013 who have yet to pass the newly required math test and didn’t get their diplomas last month.”
2013 was the first year the state required students to pass an end of course math test in order to graduate and earn their diploma.
This got me thinking. Since 2013, how many students in Washington State have been denied a diploma for failing a high stakes tests required for graduation? I don’t see the numbers posted clearly anywhere, despite the state’s creation of these high stakes.
It gets worst. In 2017-18, students will be required to pass three high stakes tests in order to receive their diplomas, per OSPI:
I wrote OSPI and asked them about the number of students who will be denied a diploma because of end of course tests required by the state. After all, we know Why Delinking Graduation from the Smarter Balanced Assessment & Other Tests is the Right Thing to Do. | Seattle Education:
