z41\doc\web\2000\05\accom.txt
To:             	wa-ed-deform@egroups.com
From:           	Don Orlich <dorlich@mail.wsu.edu>
Date sent:      	Mon, 8 May 2000 15:34:59 -0700
Send reply to:  	wa-ed-deform@egroups.com
Subject:        	[wa-ed-deform] The WASL for Blind and Hospitalized children


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 I am examining pages 23 and 24 of the "WASL Test Coordinator's
Manual 1999," distributed by the Washington OSPI.


 All (like A L L) students must take the appropriate WASL.  Quoting
directly, "Assess students in a hospital or institution, home-bound
students in their home (with appropriate test security measures.)"  WITH
APPROPRIATE TEST SECURITY!!!  IN A HOSPITAL? (You have to watch those
nurses.)  AND DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DEALING WITH IN HOME BOUND KIDS?
Gee, this almost approaches "National Security."  WHERE IS JANET RENO WHEN
WE NEED HER?  But, you can all rest easier tonight knowing that our State
Superintendent of Public Instruction is right on the job, almost being
absurd to point of being ridiculous?


 But that is not all.  Our chief state school officer will allow
children of limited English or ESL children some slack.  "During both days
of writing, students are permitted to use reference materials such as a
published dictionary and a thesaurus in print or electronic form (but no
spell check)."


 Now let me get this straight.  If a kid cannot speak English, a
thesaurus will help locate a word that has the correct denotation and
connotation.  GET SERIOUS!!!


 For the blind or visually impaired take heart.  The socially
sensitive SPI will "Allow Braille or large-type editions of the assess,
with appropriate test security measures for all students who use large
print."


 "To acess large-print editions, the district may be charged a fee
for service for students who do not have a registered visual impairment."
(We don't even register dope users, but a school better register children
with visual problems.)


 I do not have the strength to quote the sections relating to
disabled children who have IEP's or Section 504 documents.  I am crying.
How can we end this PSYCHOLOGICAL ABUSE OF THE CHILDREN IN WASHINGTON???


 PS.  I almost never attack a person, but the task or principle
being abused.   But the WASL and its perpetrators need an open debate and
need to be publicly ridiculed.   It will not happen with commissions that
are not accountable to the people directly.   And perhaps what is most
tragicomic is that Washington school directors are openly applauding this
nonsense as rasing standards.  I leave the soapbox.   Dr. Donald C. Orlich






Donald C. Orlich                  Pullman, WA  99164-4237
Professor                         (509) 335-4844
Sci. Math. Eng. Ed. Cntr.         FAX (509) 335-7389
PO Box 644237
Washington State University       Email   dorlich@wsu.edu