Balow: Writing Test Was Flawed

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow says a statewide writing test which was eliminated by the 2015 Wyoming Legislature was deeply flawed.

Representative Mary Throne (D-Cheyenne) authored legislation which passed both houses of the legislature and was signed into law by Governor Matt Mead doing away with the SAWS-Student Assessment of Writing Skills-test.

Throne said she considered the test a waste of time and questioned how accurately and objectively such a test could be graded.

Balow says she likewise had a number of issues with SAWS. She says first of all she would have a hard time using a writing test she hadn't graded as a yardstick.

She said another problem was that the test took so long to grade that by the time scores were available that whatever information may have been gained was outdated. The Superintendent says yet another problem was that by the time the test score was available a teacher may not even have that student in class anymore.

Balow says when she was a teacher she and other teachers would administer a writing test, grade each other's students and use those results as a baseline, which she considers a far more effective way of assessing writing skills.

Because of the bill passed by the legislature SAWS testing which had been scheduled across the state for this spring has been cancelled.