PSEC essay

One issue that I am passionate about is the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, or WASL. I believe that these standardized tests are a drain on educational funding. It is my opinion that these tests show no practical purpose, yet we spend large amounts of our funds to ensure that students pass these tests. Also, they redirect our time from learning things with real world application to things exclusively applicable to this test. In my opinion, the WASLs should be abolished.

I believe that the WASLs do not provide anything for the children of Washington. The tests are meant to be a standard for the No Child Left Behind act. When schools do not have enough students that pass this standard, they are sanctioned with less funding. This is counter productive in that schools require more funding in order to be more effective at teaching. However, because the states remove funding, the schools are forced to begin teaching students how to pass the WASL. This lessens the amount of valuable time that could be spent actually gaining a well rounded education, and instead teaches students how to take one specific test which is only useful inside the academic arena.

The WASLs are also a direct waste of time and money. We actually spend two entire weeks of our sophomore year taking the test, as well as various times taking the test in several other grades. The tests often have to be downgraded or “fixed” so that more schools will meet the standard, using money that could have been spent upgrading those schools. This test isn’t raising the level of education, merely lowering the standard.

In my opinion, WASLs should be abolished because they are a waste for everyone involved. They waste time for not just the students, but also the teachers. Also, they waste the money that tax payers entrust to school districts to use wisely. I don’t believe that this test is even worth improving, it would be better to start from scratch, if at all.