Issue In Education

WASL Graduation Requirements
The issue is all Washington students must take and pass a statewide assessment to meet graduation requirements. This also applies to Special Education students which is why I have strong opinions. Special Education students have to take their grade level test at least once to determine if they can meet standard or not. Some students qualify for the WAAS Portfolio but the majority of mine don't. If the student did not meet grade level standards than the next year the IEP team can determine which level test they need to take according to their ability level and they'll need to pass this to graduate. I have had to administer the tenth grade test to some of my students who are between a 3rd and 5th grade level. This is a humiliating process when you don't understand what is being asked in the test, much less being asked to write an answer. They try to pretend that they are working on it but they really aren't. My opinion is that we are wasting a year having them do the test that is not at their level. Just let them take their ability level so they can start working towards passing it for graduation so they can begin to feel a sense of accomplshment. There, I'm done standing on my soap box!
Let me know what your opinion is.
Karla
Here's the website with more info.
http://www.k12.wa.us/