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Around The -Ists This Week
Their kids scored big fat zeros on the Washington Alternative Assessment System (WAAS) last year, and this year parents asked Green Lake Elementary special ed teachers Lenora Stahl and Juli Griffith not to put their children through an ordeal they say has unreasonable and inappropriate standards for students with special needs.
After Stahl and Griffith agreed and didn't administer the assessment, they were suspended for ten days each. According to the Seattle School District, the teachers have an obligation to comply with district and state policy--and Stahl and Griffith weren't up front early enough about the parents' verbal and written request that their kids not take the test.
The WAAS, a WASL alternative that some are arguing isn't nearly alternative enough, has been used in state schools since the '05-'06 school year. The state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction has more information about the assessment and other state testing requirements for kids with special needs here.
Ten days' suspension is damaging to all the lesson plans and delicate progress the teachers have made with their students, and we wish Stahl and Griffith had given the disciplinary board evidence that the parents requested their kids not be assessed earlier. That said, we're glad for the reminder to check in on state Superintendent Randy Dorn's plans to revamp the WASL (and, by extension, the WAAS), which were part of his campaign for election. Still looks like 2010 is the magic year for change...and if there's justice in this world, that change should be significant and effective in practical terms for typically developing and special needs students across the state.
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My wife is a special-ed teacher in the north-of-seattle-burbs. She has to spend an enormous amount of time (~10 hrs per student) to create the portfolio that is an alternate to special-ed kids taking the standard WASL. This is just so that a few months later she can be told that all of her kids fail the test.
Gee, who would have thought that kids that can't talk, let alone read couldn't prove a mastery of Washington state history or their the ability to perform long division. I may not have the exact details of the portfolio process down, but I wanted to give you all the gist of why these teachers are resisting the testing.