After 15 years of using the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) as its primary measure of progress, Tacoma Public Schools (TPS) is reassessing how it will measure student achievement.
The test (which became heavily used in 2006 under the federal standards of No Child Left Behind) took up a lot of class time, but gave the district a good feel for how Tacoma students measured up to state standards.
A new assessment mechanism, implemented by new State Superintendent Randy Dorn, will replace the old WASL, freeing up class time and streamlining results through computer testing.
However, district officials are concerned with the level of challenge it will present the students, and feel that it will not give as strong of feedback to teachers as the WASL did.
Students will now take the Measurement of Student Progress (MSP) in grades three through eight, and the High School Proficiency Exam (HSPE) during ninth through 12th grade. Both tests will be substantially shorter than the WASL, and will be put online within the next couple of years.
“In some ways it’s changing for the better because it’s less intrusive (on classroom time),” said Pat Cummings, director of research and evaluation for TPS. However, the shorter test leaves no room for extended, critical thinking responses, and consists of 30 multiple choice and five fill-in-the-blank questions. “The good news is; it’s going to be short, fast and to the point. The bad news is we lose the power of the old WASL” in getting in-depth, reliable data.
The district has recently committed to actively and consistently measuring student progress in achievement and learning, and so is looking at ways to supplement the MSP and HSPE with additional forms of measurement and data collection.
“We need to figure out how we can get additional data points…so we can measure how our students are doing,” Deputy Superintendent Carla Santorno said.
District officials discussed implementing individual classroom assessments, as well as presenting monthly teaching and learning report cards to the school board at a board meeting Oct. 8.
“We know we’ve got to improve instruction efforts across the board,” Santorno said. “We will not add pressure to teachers without adding support.”
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