WASL math becomes political | TheNewsTribune.com | Tacoma, WA

It sounds to me as if "political" is just a euphemism for "duck-and-run" as far as state and union officials are concerned. Given the choice between delaying the WASL math requirements for 3 years, or failing 49% of the students and facing an angry backlash from parents, what do you think the politicians will do?

The cowards in Olympia will do the expedient thing, and the finger-pointing will continue from all sides until some enterprising legislator suggests that we "relax" the requirements and everyone runs pell-mell to lower standards in order to look good to their constituents. Chris Vance’s statement, that "it’s just not politically possible" to tell parents the truth and make them face the consequences of their choices for government and education leaders is a graphic illustration of why the Republicans will continue to hold a minority position in the House. I think spelling lessons should be the first course of order, starting with the word "backbone".

Gregiore – the feel-good liberal of choice is worried about "demoralized" students, never mind the fact that they will be taking remedial math courses when they get into college, and wondering why they even bothered with high school (assuming they get into college with their correspondingly low SATs). Charles Hasse, president of the WEA has the most telling quote in the article, pointing his finger at the Superintendent of Public Instruction’s "poor testing policy" which could be taken to mean that the teachers are teaching to the test rather than teaching good math skills in order to get a high graduation rate, and their dereliction has finally caught up with them.

It’s not a matter of "too little money for school reform" as stated in the article, but too little determination by politicians, school officials, union leaders, and parents to affect change for the benefit of our students in spite of the political fallout.

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