06-24-2008, 05:10 PM
No test scores, no graduation
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
By HOWARD BUCK, Columbian staff writer
WASHOUGAL — Jessica Sunderland and Peter Yon never wore their graduation gowns.
Jessica returned hers. Peter said he feels more like burning his.
Both are Washougal High School seniors who thought they would graduate this year. But because of their just-failing scores on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, and a delay in grading state-approved alternatives, neither was allowed to walk at commencement.
They’ve been assured their last attempt to qualify, a handful of writing samples sent to Olympia in early June, should get them over the hump.
But there’s disconnect between earning a diploma and getting to walk at graduation. State authorities consider August the finish line, under new rules in place for the class of 2008. But Washougal School District officials hold that anyone shy of credits or other requirements on graduation day doesn’t walk.
That left Jessica, 17, and Peter, 18, on the outside. They sat and watched 165 classmates march across the stage at Fishback Stadium on June 14.
“Who does it hurt if we walk?” Peter said.
Both students entered their senior year behind the curve. They previously flunked the WASL reading portion, so they took it again in April, only to fail by a single point. Working with teachers, they’d also written a dozen or so short essays, submitted to the state back in February as a WASL alternative.
When the results came back in May, both had failed again by one point.
Peter and Jessica’s last option was to submit another handful of essays, which they knocked off early this month. But Olympia won’t have results until late July or August.
So, no graduation ceremony.
“I feel badly for the two students. It’s sad that they didn’t get it right exactly in time for graduation, but they’ll eventually get it,” said Teresa Baldwin, Washougal superintendent.
She and school board members discussed the duo’s fate during a June 10 meeting. They chose to stick with Washougal’s longtime, hard-and-fast rule.
“Traditionally, one of the things superintendents do at graduation is certify that all students have met the qualifications,” Baldwin said. “An exception might give future seniors incentive to skate. And more students fall into that exception, and then what have you got? You’ve diluted the rule.”
Still, these seniors did everything asked of them this year, and on time. Only the lag in scoring the extra essays tripped them up.
“You run into that with every senior class,” said Thomas Huffman, Washougal board member for 17 years. “Some of them think that they can wait until the last minute to do things.
“We’re trying to turn out the best possible students,” Huffman continued. “This just holds the bar up there, and if they can’t quite reach it, then that’s something they have to deal with.”
It was bitter news, especially for Jessica.
An outgoing blonde who hopes to attend beauty school, she admits coasting until senior year. She entered 2.5 credits behind schedule. But she bucked up: All year, she came early in the morning for credit recovery work at the alternative Excelsior High School next-door. After school, she would return for more, quitting her burger-shop job to make time.
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Sorry I dont have any sympathy or pity for these two whiney failures, they should have been working all of the four years they were in school instead of the last year in order to graduate.
I think WASL is one of the best things thats happened to Washington state schools, but there's more that needs to be done, it should be incumbent on the kids that get into High school at least to pass a test that determines they've learned enough each year to graduate from like Freshman to Sophomore grades, they should NOT slide!
They should have to prove they learned what was taught to them Every single year, that way the kids wont be sliding through the grades like these two did.
This is also a fault teachers seems to allow, they have since I was in school let kids slide through the grades UNTILL they hit Senior year, THEN the kids have to scramble to get the amount of credits needed to pass and in this case they also needed to be proficient in the things taught to them in order to pass the WASL testing.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
By HOWARD BUCK, Columbian staff writer
WASHOUGAL — Jessica Sunderland and Peter Yon never wore their graduation gowns.
Jessica returned hers. Peter said he feels more like burning his.
Both are Washougal High School seniors who thought they would graduate this year. But because of their just-failing scores on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, and a delay in grading state-approved alternatives, neither was allowed to walk at commencement.
They’ve been assured their last attempt to qualify, a handful of writing samples sent to Olympia in early June, should get them over the hump.
But there’s disconnect between earning a diploma and getting to walk at graduation. State authorities consider August the finish line, under new rules in place for the class of 2008. But Washougal School District officials hold that anyone shy of credits or other requirements on graduation day doesn’t walk.
That left Jessica, 17, and Peter, 18, on the outside. They sat and watched 165 classmates march across the stage at Fishback Stadium on June 14.
“Who does it hurt if we walk?” Peter said.
Both students entered their senior year behind the curve. They previously flunked the WASL reading portion, so they took it again in April, only to fail by a single point. Working with teachers, they’d also written a dozen or so short essays, submitted to the state back in February as a WASL alternative.
When the results came back in May, both had failed again by one point.
Peter and Jessica’s last option was to submit another handful of essays, which they knocked off early this month. But Olympia won’t have results until late July or August.
So, no graduation ceremony.
“I feel badly for the two students. It’s sad that they didn’t get it right exactly in time for graduation, but they’ll eventually get it,” said Teresa Baldwin, Washougal superintendent.
She and school board members discussed the duo’s fate during a June 10 meeting. They chose to stick with Washougal’s longtime, hard-and-fast rule.
“Traditionally, one of the things superintendents do at graduation is certify that all students have met the qualifications,” Baldwin said. “An exception might give future seniors incentive to skate. And more students fall into that exception, and then what have you got? You’ve diluted the rule.”
Still, these seniors did everything asked of them this year, and on time. Only the lag in scoring the extra essays tripped them up.
“You run into that with every senior class,” said Thomas Huffman, Washougal board member for 17 years. “Some of them think that they can wait until the last minute to do things.
“We’re trying to turn out the best possible students,” Huffman continued. “This just holds the bar up there, and if they can’t quite reach it, then that’s something they have to deal with.”
It was bitter news, especially for Jessica.
An outgoing blonde who hopes to attend beauty school, she admits coasting until senior year. She entered 2.5 credits behind schedule. But she bucked up: All year, she came early in the morning for credit recovery work at the alternative Excelsior High School next-door. After school, she would return for more, quitting her burger-shop job to make time.
Sorry I dont have any sympathy or pity for these two whiney failures, they should have been working all of the four years they were in school instead of the last year in order to graduate.
I think WASL is one of the best things thats happened to Washington state schools, but there's more that needs to be done, it should be incumbent on the kids that get into High school at least to pass a test that determines they've learned enough each year to graduate from like Freshman to Sophomore grades, they should NOT slide!
They should have to prove they learned what was taught to them Every single year, that way the kids wont be sliding through the grades like these two did.
This is also a fault teachers seems to allow, they have since I was in school let kids slide through the grades UNTILL they hit Senior year, THEN the kids have to scramble to get the amount of credits needed to pass and in this case they also needed to be proficient in the things taught to them in order to pass the WASL testing.