Huge Victory for Washington State’s Students: Exit Exam Requirement Struck Down!
Cue Pomp and Circumstance because many more Washington State high school seniors will be walking across the stage and handed a diploma!
Beginning with the class of 2020, high school students are no longer required to pass the “Smarter Balance Assessment” high-stakes standardized test to graduate. They will still have to take at least one federally mandated test during high school, but the new state law finally removes this treacherous obstacle for Washington’s students.
Let’s be clear about something: This victory against the cruelty of the “testocracy” would not have been possible without a rebellion from parents, students, educators, and community members who have demanded an end to over-testing and using a single score to judge and punish students. I edited a book, More Than a Score: The New Uprising Against High Stakes Testing, that details the national grassroots movement of student walkouts of high-stakes tests, teacher boycotts, parent opt-outs, that have changed the narrative about the abuses of standardized testing and the authentic assessment alternative. Requiring exit exams to graduate has nothing to with what expert educators know about best practices for assessing students. In fact, Boston University economics professor Kevin Lang’s 2013 study, “The School to Prison Pipeline Exposed,” links increases in the use of high-stakes standardized high school exit exams to increased incarceration rates. Study after study has reveled that these tests are a better measure of family income than aptitude. These test measure resources and proximity to the dominant culture, negatively impacting English Language Learners, special education students, students of color, and low income students. University of CONTINUE READING: Huge Victory for Washington State’s Students: Exit Exam Requirement Struck Down! – I AM AN EDUCATOR
