PRESS
RELEASE
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date:
STATE POLICY DENIES PARENTAL
RIGHTS. MOTHERS AGAINST WASL MEMBER
CITES FEDERAL LAW AND WILL BE ALLOWED TO VIEW WASL TEST.
Contacts: De
Anna Winterrose, Tri-Cities Contact for Mothers Against WASL 509-628-8802
Juanita Doyon, Director, Parent Empowerment Network/Mothers Against WASL
Spanaway,
253/973-1593
Shelley Anderson, Executive Board Member,
Patricia Bailey, Executive Board Member, Seattle, 206/242-5156
Rachel
DeBellis, Executive Board Member, Marysville, 360/708-9323
Lisa Sampson, Executive Board Member, Vancouver, 369/885-1821
Citing the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the below
memorandum, Richland parent and member of Mothers Against WASL, De Anna
Winterrose, has gained permission to view her children’s completed Washington
Assessment of Student Learning tests.
Previously, the State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction had
denied parents the right to view the state administered test. (See policy below.) However, as Ms. Winterrose pointed out to
school officials in
Ms.
Winterrose reports that the school district attorney “…spent the day on the
phone with OSPI and the [federal] Department of Education - trying to get some
resolution to my request to see my children's educational documents. ...I
will have to sign a non-disclosure form (promising not to tell what the
questions were), will not be allowed to make copies, and he will sit in the
room with me - but I am very happy about this.”
“This
is a victory for parents and students throughout the state and will have
national impact as well,” said Juanita Doyon, organizer of Mothers Against WASL
and director of the new nonprofit, Parent Empowerment Network. “We have been
fighting against test secrecy for over four years. There should be absolutely no secrecy to
these tests. All state level assessment
content should be made accessible to every parent once the tests are
administered. Test security does not
supplant parental rights.”
Many
testing experts have judged the WASL to be an inappropriate assessment. Mothers Against WASL believes that parent
access is key to forcing a change in the test itself. A recent report by Dr. Donald Orlich
concludes that the 5th grade science and 7th grade math
WASLs exceed the intellectual capabilities of the students they are intended to
test. Previous studies have shown that
other segments of the test are also flawed in their level of difficulty.
According
to FERPA, parents have the right to view their children’s completed WASL tests
before and after scoring. This right has
been denied by the state.
FERPA
Memorandum (partial):
LeRoy
S. Rooker, Director, Family Policy Compliance Office
Date:
”…Where test "protocols" are meant to refer to test instruments or
question booklets that do not identify a student or that do not contain
personally identifiable information, such documents are not considered
"education records" under FERPA. See 34 CFR §99.3. "Personally
identifiable information."
In contrast, completed test instruments or question booklets containing
information that identify a particular student, whether or not the actual name
of the student appears on the booklet, constitute "education records"
subject to the FERPA requirements. Therefore, in cases where an answer sheet is
directly related to the student and is separate from the question booklet not
directly related to a student, only the answer sheet would be considered an
education record under FERPA. In cases where a question booklet that includes
both the questions and the student's responses, the question booklet is an
education record subject to FERPA.
Although under FERPA an educational agency or institution is not required to
provide a parent with an opportunity to inspect and review information that is
not personally identifiable to his or her child, such as test instruments and
question booklets that are not directly related to the student, §99.10(c) of the
FERPA regulations provides that an educational institution or agency is
required "to respond to reasonable requests for explanations and
interpretations of the records." Accordingly, an educational agency or
institution would be required to respond to a reasonable request for an
explanation or interpretation of a student's answer sheet. This could include
reviewing the question booklet with the parent.
Because answer sheets are usually directly related to a student, they generally
fall within the definition of education records to which a parent has the right
to inspect and review. In response to your questions, therefore, the parent has
the right to have access to her child's answer sheet and an explanation or
interpretation of that answer sheet which, in some cases, could require access
to the question booklet. However, because FERPA requires a parent be given
access and not copies, except in specific instances, the school district is not
required to provide the parent a copy of the answer sheet or the question
booklet…”
http://www.k12.wa.us/assessment/pubdocs/ViewingWASLTests.doc
“Viewing WASL Tests—
State laws RCW 42.17.310 and 28A.635.040 limit access to tests and supportive
materials and are designed to protect the integrity of the test. It is unlawful
for “any person having access to any question or questions prepared for the
examination of common school pupils to directly or indirectly disclose the same
before the time appointed for the use of the questions in the examination of
pupils.” Further, it is unlawful to “directly or indirectly assist any person
to answer any question.” Operational or pilot WASL test booklets must not be
reviewed by staff or parents. Report any misuse of testing materials to Dr.
Paul Dugger at 360.725.6348 or TTY 360.664.3631.
The release of test
items over the past four years provides parents and school personnel with a
good understanding of the format and content of the WASL. Released items from
the past four WASL administrations can be found on the OSPI Web site at www.k12.wa.us/assessment/WASL/testquestions.aspx. These released items
can be freely shared with teachers, students, and parents.”