e:\doc\web\2001\10\seaboard.txt


dicklillyforschools@hotmail.com; pgseattle@aol.com; gregoryroberts@seattlepi.com


Seattle PI 10/15/2001
Both Dick Lilly, Pat Griffith District 4 School Board 
candidates support standards based reform / WASL, but 
we might direct some WASL education to their email sites:


To:


dicklillyforschools@hotmail.com
pgseattle@aol.com


Arthur Hu, last year's candidate for Supt of Public Instruction,
I and a bunch of citizens are disappointed that you've fallen
hook, line and sinker for the ridiculous WASL test which is so
out of line with reality that half of Mercer Island kids are
declared "below standard". What do you think that's going to do
with the Seattle kids? Obviously neither of you have seen the 
high school problems plunked into the 4th grade test, or the 
Seattle Standards that expect kindergarteners to write about
mathematics with invented spelling. I fear for Seattle if we 
get even more of the same cheer-leading sheep who won't question
the students and parents suffering under a campaign of 
"excellence or death". This is never what progressive education
was supposed to be about, any attempt to force "high performance"
out of more than a small percentage of the population is doomed
to failure. If you can get all kids to at least read and do some
basic arithmetic, we'll be doing fine, but to force a standard 
that half of Mercer Island kids can't hack is just insanity.


I'll bet neither one of you can cite even one state, district or 
even school that can show that all their kids can pass the WASL
test or a test like it, and you can't because it hasn't been done,
and it can't be done. All the WASL test results are if anything 
even more draconian that IQ test distributions when it comes to 
differences between class, race and gender, and unfairness to those
with the least opportunity. Just because it claims to be unbiased
doesn't change the fact that it's actually more biased in results 
than any multiple choice test. When failure rates in some schools
reach 95-100%, and the only thing these school have in common is 
that they're nearly totally black and poor, and you have the gall
to say all we have to do is teach the WASL, that shows what both
of you are made of.


If one of you has the courage to jump off the bandwagon, and stand
up for the kids and parents instead of what the education 
bureacracy want to inflict on the public, you might be able to
stand out.


424-814-2183
Arthur HU
12422 107th PL NE
Kirkland WA 98034