Washington State House of Representatives Office of Program Research	BILL ANALYSIS
Education

HB 1240

Brief Description:  Changing provisions relating to the Washington assessment of student learning.

Sponsors:  Representatives Schindler, Quall, Talcott, Pearson, Cox, Keiser, Campbell, D. Schmidt and Haigh.

Brief Summary of Bill

$Beginning September 1, 2002, the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) will release each student's scored writing test booklets on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) to the students' schools for use by students, parents, and teachers.

$By September 1, 2001, the office will report to the Governor and legislative committees on the cost of releasing all the WASL test booklets.

Hearing Date:  2/5/01

Staff:  Susan Morrissey (786‑7111).

Background: 

By law, most fourth, seventh, and 10th grade public school students in Washington are, or soon will be, required to take a Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) test for their grade level in reading, writing, listening, and mathematics.  Additional WASLs in science and social studies are under development, and others may follow. The standards, also called essential academic learning requirements, were developed initially by the Commission on Student Learning.  HB 1209, the legislation that created the system of standards and assessments, addressed some of the anticipated uses of the WASLs.  One of the provisions of the legislation states:  "The assessment system shall be designed so that the results under the assessment system are used by educators as tools to evaluate instructional practices, and to initiate appropriate educational support for students who have not learned the essential academic learning requirements at the appropriate periods in the student's educational development." 

Once the WASLs are scored by the testing company that prepared them and the results are considered valid and reliable, parents and teachers have access to information on how each student performed on the assessments.  However, the scored test booklets are not returned to parents or teachers.  A number of parents and teachers have requested system changes to permit the return of those scored test booklets.   The OSPI is reviewing a number of issues associated that policy change.  Her budget request for the 2001-03 biennium included funding to double score the writing assessments and to return to the state and school districts a CD ROM with the scored tests.

Summary of Bill: 

Beginning September 1, 2002, once the Washington assessments of student learning are scored and the data is considered complete and accurate, the OSPI will provide the scored writing test booklets to the schools of those who took the assessments.  The schools will make the booklets available to students and the parents or guardians of those students.  By September 1, 2001, the OSPI will report to the Governor and the fiscal and education committees of the Legislature on the costs of releasing scored test booklets on all tested subjects to schools, teachers, and parents.

Effective Date:  Sections one and four take effect ninety days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.  Sections two and three take effect September 1, 2002.

Appropriation:  None.

Fiscal Note:  Not Requested.