Dorn wants changes made to HS Graduation System

Dorn Pleased With State Test Results, Wants Changes Made to High School Graduation System

August 17, 2015, I was the only person from the general public to be present at the 10 AM Press Release of Test Results.

No Mr. Dorn did NOT advocate for anything different than a one-size fits-all diploma, just different requirements for that diploma.

Deputy Supt. Gil Mendoza stated that all students under 21 are entitled to a free and appropriate k-12 education.  Supt. Randy Dorn apparently wants nearly the same high standards for all.  He fails to address that his high standards for all mean impossible to meet standards for some and hardly an appropriate education for many.

Dorn is clearly opposed to using testing as a graduation requirement especially SBAC testing.  He sees getting a passing grade in required courses as an acceptable standard for graduation.

OSPI states that: Statewide results beat our predictions

Yet statewide SBAC Math results for all 8th grade students resulted in 26.4% of students at well below standard.

8th grade SBAC Math percent of students placing at level 1, well below standard in 2015 testing
compared with (2013 MSP Math).

26.4%  (25.7%) - All students
39.8%  (37.4%) - Low Income
15.2%  (14.7%) - Asian/ Pacific Islander
21.0%  (20.8%) - White
41.4%  (38.7%) - Hispanic
45.1%  (45.3%) - Black/ African American
47.9%  (48.7%) - American Indian/ Alaska Native

Given 2013 MSP Math results and even though the politician speak is that SBAC Math is a higher standard, these results did not beat my predictions.

The ed speak at both the federal and state level gets increasingly convoluted, sanity seems nowhere in sight.

Prediction: if 24 credits becomes a graduation requirement look for a large increase in Online Credit Recovery Options, which will require little time or effort to gain credit for previously failed classes.

Education at the state and federal level is mostly about generating favorable statistics and keeping vendors in the loop.

Unfortunately I heard nothing that makes me think appropriate levels of remediation will be coming in HS.

It will be interesting to see what colleges find in the level of mathematical preparedness in future students when using SBAC as a placement tool around remedial math courses.