An interesting wrinkle in state schools race
PETER CALLAGHAN; THE NEWS TRIBUNE
Randy Dorn wasn’t the first choice of WASL opponents.
That honor went to Richard Semler, superintendent of the Richland School District. It was Semler who would carry the issue into the election against 12-year Superintendent of Public Instruction Terry Bergeson.
Semler, who retired in June, wanted to get rid of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning – the test that attempts to assure that students know what we want them to know. He said the test doesn’t do that while consuming too much time, money and psychic energy.
But Semler dropped out when his wife became ill. That left Dorn.
Now, as the former Eatonville principal articulates his positions, it is becoming more clear that he might not be all that WASL opponents – including the Washington Education Association – were hoping for.
But you have to listen carefully. Dorn uses words and a tone that might make both the pros and cons think he is on their side. GOP nominee for governor Dino Rossi uses a similar technique (which isn’t surprising since both are advised on the issue by former state lawmaker and King County Councilman Chris Vance).
Dorn and Rossi both criticize the WASL: It isn’t diagnostic, it costs too much, it takes too much time, it forces teachers to teach to the test. At the same time, they praise high standards and endorse some sort of testing.
When pressed however, as happened at a debate last week before the Association of Washington Business, Dorn’s position gains nuance. (I was one of two debate questioners, along with moderator C.R. Douglas.)
Dorn, who was chairman of the House Education Committee in 1993 when school reform and the WASL passed, says he favors an assessment test for students. He says he thinks students need to pass it – or an approved alternative – to graduate. He believes that the 15-year-old school reform bill remains a good idea.
It’s the WASL test itself that he dislikes. He prefers using some other state’s test – one that is simpler and perhaps easier – instead of the WASL.
There are certainly opponents who dislike the WASL because of the form of the test. They may view Dorn as a good alternative to Bergeson, who has defended the WASL while revising it and delaying the math and science sections.
But many don’t want any test to be a graduation requirement. They think it skews the education system and takes time and resources away from teaching other subjects. These opponents aren’t likely to favor exchanging one “high-stakes” test for another.
But WASL and school reform supporters might be less turned off by Dorn, less likely to view him as an enemy of school reform – although the Association of Washington Business is sticking with Bergeson, as is the most-public WASL defender, the Washington Roundtable.
Dorn took another position Thursday that blurs the image of him as the WEA’s candidate.
Dorn, the president of the Public School Employees Union, first agreed with the WEA’s position that hard-to-recruit teachers like science and math teachers should not be paid more. (Bergeson favors such differential pay.) But he then seemed to endorse something that sounds a lot like merit pay, which the state and national teachers union opposes. He said when he was a principal he would have liked to reward his top teachers with extra pay to recognize their excellence.
Dorn calls his idea “quality pay.”
Bergeson remains the face of school reform, which most voters still support. But she also has been accused of closing her mind to any criticism of WASL and reform. Indeed, she attracts both strong support and strong opposition.
But Dorn’s positions are not as far from Bergeson’s as first portrayed. Which makes the superintendent’s race less simplistic of a contest than it appeared a few months ago.
Peter Callaghan: 253-597-8657
peter.callaghan@thenewstribune.com
blogs.thenewstribune.com/politics
