WASL Data

According to the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), our state's education department, just 85 test score appeals have been filed so far this year. (That's out of 240,000 tests, BTW.) The numbers were released earlier this week as part of an informational event for Washington state media. Of those filed:

• 66 were in math; 12 were granted
• 9 were in reading; 1 was granted
• 10 were in writing; none (0) were granted

There are also about 2,000 students who have applied to submit a collection of evidence, according to Molly O'Connor, the state's assessment communications manager. The collection of evidence is one of the multiple alternatives to the WASL, a means by which high schoolers can demonstrate mastery in the content areas without re-taking the test. Another 85 students have filed their scores on the ACT, PSAT, SAT or ACT as proof of their abilities; 82 filed to use their PSAT scores, one filed to use SAT scores, and two filed to use ACT scores.

FYI, State Superintendent Terry Bergeson will present her "Report to Families" teleconference to the media on Friday, June 8, at which time she will announce the number of sophomores and juniors who passed the WASL in reading, writing and math this year.

Under Pressure

The photos from the Scripps National Spelling Bee do a wonderful job of capturing the emotion associated with this event. As I mentioned in Tuesday's blog, the official Web site has a great collection of trivia and resources about the famous contest. But it's the photos that really captured my attention. Here are a couple of my favorites, courtesy of the Scripps site:

1. This poor little guy. He received the dreaded "ding" of the bell, indicating an incorrect spelling. Not sure if he's near tears or just wincing. Or both. (Cute shot, though.)
   

2. Oh, the agony of a missed word...













And my favorite shot of all that I have seen so far is this one:


3. Forget the pressure of letting yourself down, let alone your school, your family, your city, your state... Consider the plight of the poor student facing THE MEDIA in all of this. The media moat in front of the stage would rival a senate hearing. There's even a priest on hand for this event!

Participation in this event gives students an education in more than just spelling. It gives them a taste of life in the 21st century modern world.

By the way, the winning word, if you don't already know by now, was serrefine. Don't know what it means? Do what my mom always told me to do: look it up!