High Stakes Testing....at what cost?

Washington State has the nation's most rigorous graduation requirements as reported to the state legislators by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction....OSPI. Someone sent me a copy of the PowerPoint presentation and I am concerned that the other side of the story was left out...at what cost? The class of 2013 will be the first class in Washington that will be denied their HS diplomas if they don't pass all three state standards in Reading, Writing, and Math. Currently there are 16,000 students that are on track to graduate, have done everything they have been asked, have all their credits, and if they do not pass the math exam in Alg or Geometry, they will be denied their HS diploma. The state is willing to throw these students into dropout status....conscious of the path of poverty they are going to send thousands of students down this road. The student's 13 yrs of education will be defined by one test...with no consideration of their other strengths and abilities. What's the message to students that struggle with abstract concepts, they are labeled failures and the state robs them from their hope and dreams. There is no research to back up this punishing policy. The arrogance to judge a student's future success on whether he/she can pass a math test. The public is in the dark and have no idea of what their elected officials are keeping under the radar. I want to thank Chris for the incredible resources she keeps finding, but I can't get the story to break and bring awareness to our public. Any ideas that you have, that you feel might help us protect and bring awareness to this serious issue....please send them to me.