About one in two tenth graders did not pass all of the section of the WASL needed to graduate with a diploma in two years. Scores also fell across the board in certain grades, leading some to question whether there was a problem with the scoring since this change appeared many different schools and districts. The president of the Washington Education Association teacher's union pointed to the very high failure rate as being unacceptable, and a reason to drop the WASL requirement for graduation. Superintendent Terry Bergeson responded, saying that it would be a mistake to turn back on the commitment to graduate all students at a high standard.

A Sept 2006 investigation by the Snohomish county journal found that the WASL was based on work by Robert Carkhuff, a self-published Washington OSPI contractor who wrote about "co-processing with God". He has had a decades-long professional relationship with key OSPI staff members Terry Bergeson and Shirley McCune. Documents show he was paid more than $1 million to restructure Washington state education around his thinking systems. The investigation concluded that several of the fundamental assumptions such as the level of math, and the writing and explanation content of the mathematics problems are severely flawed, not simply a matter of "helping struggling" students to fulfill Terry Bergeson's pledge that all students will get a diploma by denying them to all students who do not pass a WASL that most students fail.

Washington Assessment of Student Learning Information: Inside
[ Future Expansion ] [ Writing Assessment ] [ Initial Concept ]
[ Controversy ] [ 2006 Results ] [ High Minority Failure Rates ]
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