\doc\web\99\13\wasl99.txt


Notes on 1999 WASL test


I concentrated on math, found that the scales sorting problem in the
sample book were given in the acutal test - this came out in the
Seattle Times, probably because I had blown the whistle. The sorting
scale problem is far more difficult than using a simple sorting 
algorithm that you'd learn in first year computer science. It's more
difficult than any Microsoft interview question and certainly beyond
the ability of most 4th graders, and certainly not taught in any 
4th grade text.


One 4th grade problem asked to give explain how you would find out
who was the most popular sports star without asking every student.
Well, the answer would be the page out of a high school integrated
math book explaining how you do sampling, and then scale the ratios
back to the whole. Not 4th grade.


I did not see any guess-and-check algebra type problems, perhaps
these were omitted to make this years test easier. If they remove the 
two 


There was a 7th grade problem asking how you would change the 
dimensions of can to double its volume. Yet the 10th grade test
simply gave you the formula for volume.


By contrast, nearly all the 10th grade problems were straightforward
application of 8th grade math, some ratio and proportionality, mostly
multiplication. One was computing how far you could drive for how
many hours with so much gas. The most difficult was an ordering 
problem - if you have so many tasks, but have to do C first, how
long does it take - a pert chart, which you pick up in business school
or engineering will tell you this, this is not an EALR standards.


In general, the 4th grade tasks were written to be very difficult
even for adults. I would estimate ability level ranges from 7th to
10th to graduate school level on many of the problems. The 7th grade
test ranged from 7th to 10th grade, but was not so outrageous. The
10th grade test was mostly thing you could solve with 5 or 6
calculator keypunches. Clearly it was designed to have a higher pass
rate than the 4th grade test which so far has a 70-80% fail rate.