WPC's Center for Education Director Liv Finne has been following Washington state's sharp test score decline in the aftermath of the pandemic school shutdowns. In the video above, which features a clip from TVW's "Inside Olympia" program with Austin Jenkins, Washington State Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal is asked about the state test score decline and WPC's observation that the state board of education seems content to pretend they don't exist.  

His answer may remind viewers of how much they miss "Better Call Saul", the "Breaking Bad" spinoff about the silver-tongued lawyer Saul Goodman and his clever manipulation of language to get out of trouble. In January, the Superintendent illustrated this talent while lamenting how state funding for education was "in decline" despite sharp increases in spending.  

Now the issue is the clear decline in state test scores. Despite the test score data coming from his own office, Superintendent Reykdal begins his answer with a swipe at WPC, saying "right of center think tank" is "too generous a label" for WPC and chastizes WPC for bringing up the test scores at all, "it's always really unhealthy to say that kids fail."  After explaining why he believes the test scores don't really show what the public think they do and that they use language like "proficiency' inaccurately, he aims his sophistry against WPC again, asserting that somehow WPC's message was aimed at kids instead of systemic failure, "There's some important things to look for in an assessment, it is not to shame kids and to put more mental health pressure on them..."  Then returns to the well one more time, with the admonition, "We should never use these things [test scores] to tell kids they're not capable of something -- that's inappropriate." 

Of course, WPC never shamed kids, directed comments at kids or told kids they weren't capable (actually quite the opposite). This is just a verbal tactic to shift the focus from the actual topic, the decline in state test scores.

The true level of absurdity in these attempts to discredit WPC ("it is always unhealthy to say that kids fail") can be seen with a simple search on the OSPI website where one is quickly reminded we have "Pass/Fail" grading options, forms that describe kids as "failing, or most at risk of failing" and where support options to help "students who are failing one or two of their classes" are described. 

Furthermore, a simple Google search provides a quick reminder that the Superintendent himself uses that language to illustrate problems with the system and performance of students and certainly isn't doing so to shame them.