This past week I had an interesting experience that I would like to share with all of you who have children, or grandchildren, in our schools.

So often I hear that their children are "doing very well" in school, and I ask the parents "What evidence do you have of this excellence?"

Almost always the answer is that they are getting good grades on their report card.

Sadly our report cards are not the currency of excellence in the world outside of Federal Way.

In fact, three of our high schools are not rated very well even at the University of Washington where many have found that they were not well prepared for a university that isn't that competitive on a national scale.

If you are one of those parents, or grandparents, that are comfortably content about your child's abilities, particularly in Mathematics, there is a pretty easy way to either relax with assurance, or perhaps, to reach for an antacid.

Let me offer you two alternatives for checking this out.

The site www.wheresthemath.com offers you four different placement test programs where you can download an examination for your child that is grade appropriate.

Saxon Math, California Standards tests and problems, and Singapore Standards.

I would suggest that Singapore will be the most valid of these, as the students in Singapore are considered to be the best in the world in Mathematics.

Closer to home we find what is probably the finest public education system in North America in Alberta.

http://education.alberta.ca/students.aspx is a site that shows the prior years' high school graduation examinations for Alberta 12th graders.

Take a close look at these and then, if you still feel that your high school student is "doing well," let them try these.

They are available in English, Mathematics and Science.

If you have children in the 3rd, 6th, or 9th grade levels, Alberta also offers their test guides for possible consideration. http://education.alberta.ca/admin/testing/achievement.aspx will get you to these exams in both English and Mathematics.

In all of these cases you will have an accurate measurement of progress that is a better measurement than almost any state of Washington report card. It is not a measurement of your child as compared to others in their classroom, which is often the case locally, as we wouldn't want to suggest that there are classes where there isn't a lot of success to be found.

Over the past few years there has been a lot of criticism in this state about the WASL exam.

We have legislators who have told me that they didn't think that any student should be denied a high school diploma no matter what their scores were on any examination!

Most of those parents I have talked to who seem concerned about this test also have kids that are not likely to pass this exam, and perhaps any of the exams that I have mentioned either.

I am writing this from Massachusetts where the MCAS, their equivalent to the WASL, but more rigorous, has been in place for several years.

When it was first introduced it was attacked by the teacher's union and many parents.

Sound familiar?

The state endured many law suits, which they won, from parents as well as attacks from some school boards in districts that threatened to "issue local diplomas" to those who couldn't pass the MCAS.

Those districts that made this threat got a reply that they would revoke the Superintendent's certificate if this happened!

What was the outcome?

Once all believed that this "was the law" passage rates went up and criticism of the program seemed to disappear.

This is an excellent case for "say what you mean" in education.

All too often this phrase doesn't really hold true in education.

The best case for this was the recent action by the state Legislature to "postpone" the graduation requirement for Mathematics. Reason? Too many were not passing!

The Education Reform Act of 1993 was to put meaning in Washington State's high school diploma!

In the eyes of the Legislature this fact seems to have been lost. It also obligated children to learn and this seems to be just "too hard" for educators and parents to comprehend.

In fact the WASL was supposed to be the "minimum" requirement for a high school diploma!

We tend to rejoice when we find that we have 50% of our students who can meet the minimum standard!

Perhaps we should look at the number who "exceed the standard" as the standard is based upon 8th grade competency in 10th grade!

Here the news is not wonderful. The number that who "exceeded expectations" has varied from 21.9% to 18.0% between 2000 and 2007. This year is is 18.3%.

Progress in mathematics seems to be rather stagnant in a world where this is a major key to adult success.

What is to be done? Civic involvement to overcome the "Bowling Alone" syndrome would help I think.

The $200 million spent in Federal Way on "education" needs to be accounted for in ways that affect those who the money is spent upon.

Robert Putnam has a passage on charter schools that is well illustrated by our district's Public Academy.

When parents are involved success just isn't that hard to achieve. Perhaps we should also "say what we mean" to our children.

If we were to only whisper that passage of the WASL was a criteria for getting driver's license before the age of 19, I think we would be amazed at the passage rate, after the howling was over.

Real consequences can be a great motivator! Should a child with less than 8th grade skills be driving?

After all 8th graders are 14 years of age, and their maturity might not be sufficient for the highway.