Walla Walla students ace Collection of Evidence

Students ace Collection of Evidence graduation requirement
The district recently received notification from The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) 100 percent of the 21 students who submitted Collection of Evidence packets in math met the standard, thus satisfying the state graduation requirement. Also, six of seven met the Collection of Evidence standard in Reading and one out of four met the Writing mark.

“This is not easy work,” said Superintendent Dr. Bill Jordan. “Thanks to math teachers Monica Nelson, Kelsee Anderson and Stephanie Gomsrud and Reading and Writing supervising teachers Sherry McConn (Wa-Hi), Jerry Quaresma (Opportunity) and Genie Huntemann (Lincoln) for coaching and supporting these students.”

Students complete the COE when they are seniors and have not yet met graduation standards on traditional state tests. Reasons may include: transfers in from out of state or out of country so they missed state testing, illness during state testing, needing additional time to achieve expected standards. The Collection of Evidence is a portfolio of student work, showing they have achieved expected outcomes. Each collection has multiple work samples (4-8), several of which must be 'on demand': completed without preparation on a single day.

There are strict guidelines regarding the conditions under which students complete the tasks. Students work under the supervision of a teacher, usually as a part of a semester-long course. The Collection of Evidence tasks have been re-written to match the rigor of the Career and College Readiness standards now in place in Washington state, which are also measured by the Smarter Balanced Assessments. The first submissions of the new style of COE will be June of this year.

Photo: Opportunity students Montana Arceo and Jasmine Lara with their teacher Kelsee Anderson.