Free Republic

Add the Vancouver Public Schools teachers union to the growing list of educators who have denounced the leadership of Terry Bergeson, state schools superintendent. At its monthly meeting on Monday, the Vancouver Education Association leadership council issued a strongly worded no-confidence vote, based on a survey of more than 300 Vancouver teachers. The vote was accompanied by a blistering rebuke of the controversial Washington Assessment of Student Learning. Bergeson has championed the state’s standardized exam since its inception in 1993. “Terry Bergeson has not been a friend to students or teachers in the state of Washington. It seems that the...

Nine year-old Tyler Stoken, a student in the Aberdeen Public School District, didn't know how to answer an essay question on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning test. As punishment for leaving the question blank his principal suspended him for five days. Tyler paraphrases the question saying, "You look out one day at school and see your principal flying by a window. In several paragraphs write what happens next." He's asked, "So why didn't you answer that question?" He says, "I couldn't think of what to write the essay without making fun of the principal." He refused to answer the...

827 Seattle students informed they will be freshmen again... Nearly one in four Seattle Public Schools sophomores is missing required credits and has been reclassified as a freshman, potentially delaying graduation. The move, effective this semester, was part of a package of changes the district announced in October to help better prepare high school students to pass the Washington Assessment of Student Learning and graduate. Under district policy, high school students have to complete five credits a year to advance to the next grade. At some schools, the rate was far higher than one in four students. At Rainier Beach...