Is WASL the Real Graduation Hang Up?

That's the question Everett Herald reporter Eric Stevick tackled in today's paper, and the answer may surprise some.

Apparently the real hang up when it comes to the class of 2008 is not passing the WASL, but rather, getting enough seat time. Credits are the single biggest threat to graduation in the districts within his readership (like Granite Falls, Everett Public Schools and the Edmonds School District). Take the seniors at Everett's Cascade High for example. According to Stevick:

As of Friday, the Everett school had 386 students in its class of 2008, but 63 were behind on credits they need in order to graduate on time.

Of the 323 students on track to earn enough credits to graduate, seven have not passed the WASL's reading mark, five have not passed writing and 15 have not passed both reading and writing portions of the 10th-grade WASL. Of the 27 students with WASL problems, about 40 percent have either not taken the tests or not had their WASL scores recorded.

Of 63 Cascade students behind on credits, seven haven't passed the reading test, nine haven't passed the writing and 11 have not passed either exams.

Are credits a bigger barrier to graduation for students in your high school than the WASL?