One down...

We finished the Reading portion of the WASL, our state exam, this morning. I teach 65 of the students who took the test. I am cautiously optimistic after listening to the students discuss how they felt after finishing. One student proclaimed that it seemed like the "...fourth grade WASL."
These types of comments scare me. My own history has too many moments of extreme confidence shattered by results.
The Writing portion of the test begins tomorrow. While I felt like my students were well-prepared for the Reading test, I still feel like too many were just below the standard. But, I've been told I score the standards rigorously (especially when I score 9th grade papers after scoring 12th grade essays), and that the state is not quite as tough. I really do hope so.
I can think of no better way to end the year in June than knowing that a large percentage of my students passed the WASL a year earlier than required.