WASL - The System Check

"The WASL was never meant as a high school graduation requirement.  It was only supposed to be a system check."

This is one of these statements that, if made by enough people, become fact --- you know, like an urban myth:  The WASL was supposed to be only a system check --- it was never meant to be a high school graduation requirement.  I've heard state legislators in public hearings make this statement.  I've heard parents and teachers make this statement.  And of course I've heard a multitude of WEA folks make this statement.  But the fact is that the legislation that created the WASL back in 1993, House Bill 1209, stated that the Certificate of Mastery "shall be required for graduation."  And the only way for a student to earn a Certificate of Mastery was to pass the high school WASL.

If opponents to graduation being based on a high stakes assessment are fed up with the WASL or they think the WASL is a poor assessment, that's fine.  But, they only diminish their argument by perpetuating a myth.  It's sad really.