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A New Beginning

The new semester began this past week. Unusually, there was a lot of movement... core classes do not generally experience this, but WASL has changed all of that. The new WASL inspired Math program goes in a series of courses, broken down by semester. It was decided in December that those who weren't going pass the first semester would not go on to the second semester. This meant that they had to removed from their class and placed into a newly created one. Since approximately half of our freshman fail, it was quite a shift.

Yeah, half of our freshman fail their core classes first semester. Why? Middle school. In middle school, the student can sit for two years, doing nothing and move on with their class. Many assume that this policy continues in high school. For some, it's just habit to sit and watch the world go by. Others are too busy hooking up with members of the opposite sex or gossiping about those who do. Whatever the reason, they're genuinely shocked to find out that they must repeat the course - reading the same novels (plus the sophomore ones), twice the number of AR books and twice the amount of essays. Guess how many are successful?

Don't get me wrong. I've seen all the studies that show that holding students back in middle school has no positive effect - and in fact, is usually detrimental to student success. The NYT has done several articles about middle school. It's an awkward time for everyone. We see the aftermath. I'd love to find the magic key - but I don't there's any magic left in high schools in WA. Not unless it's spelled "W-A-S-L", and I'm pretty sure it's not.

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