The 'Big Day' has arrived

After 13 years of education reform, the day has arrived. Starting tomorrow, March 13, sophomores around Washington will begin taking the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, our state's high-stakes test. All eyes have been on the Class of 2008 for more than a decade, and tomorrow they will begin to show whether all the reforms have worked as intended.

The conventional wisdom says that when we get the scores back in June we'll see marked improvements in the number of students who have met standard in all three required areas -- reading, writing and mathematics. Of last year's sophomores statewide, just under half met the standard in those areas. Science becomes a requirement in two years.

The good news for the 10th graders this year is that students get five chances to pass before they graduate. And, for some students, there is the additional opportunity to have an alternate assessment.

In speaking with colleagues I know all around the state, right now, it's all about the WASL. Yet at my school, it seems there is a less intense attitude toward the test. Maybe it's because we've got larger issues than just whether sophomores pass (thanks, "No Child Left Behind") or maybe our sophomores are just more confident. We'll find out this week and again in April as those kids put pencil to paper to show what they know.

I've said often to colleagues and friends that we're in a purgatory of sorts for at least two more years. By 2008, we'll have gone down one of two paths. Either nearly all students will be passing the WASL, and we'll know our efforts were successful, or we will be in the same spot we're in today, families will bring lawsuits challenging the graduation requirement and the Legislature will act swiftly to ensure we don't deny diplomas to thousands of kids.

It's been 13 years in the making, and tomorrow is the first day down one of those two paths.

-- Wenatchee, Wash.