Mandatory high-stakes academic testing in Washington State public schools: Parent opinions

High stakes testing graduation requirement policies were made with only minimal participation of parents. Beginning with the class of 2008 Washington State public school students will face graduation requirements that will include passing the state's high stakes proficiency exam. This study explores parental opinions regarding the policy in four Washington State public school districts.; Four graduate students at Washington State University College of Education combine efforts by forming a Research Cooperative to design and conduct a survey of parent opinions in four geographically diverse school districts. Members of the Research Cooperative all serve as administrators in the cooperating school districts at the four study sites.; The study reviews relevant literature covering the policy debate over the utility and impact of high stakes academic testing. The literature review looks at the policy effect of the educational reform movement from publication of A Nation At Risk to the enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act. The study reviews the issues surrounding the achievement gap between student ethnic and income groups and the role of opinion polls in public education policy making.; A theoretical framework for survey construction and data analysis includes the examination of parent opinions from the three parental perspectives of "My Child", "My School" and "State-wide School System". Further theoretical framework is provided by a taxonomy of policy values including Equity, Efficiency, Quality and Choice.; Parents were surveyed on statements regarding the use of the Washington State Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) as a high school graduation requirement providing independent variables. Parents are also asked to provide information on eleven demographic questions providing dependent variables.; Survey results were reported for each individual study sites and for the four sites together. Findings included the generalization that the respondents do not support the policy of using the WASL exam as a high school graduation requirement. Implications for further research into parent opinions and for policy development are included.