Randy Dorn said a news release should be coming from the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction later today.

But Dorn told me over by the sundial a couple hours ago that there's no money to process and grade the tests.

The 9th grade WASL (Washington Assessement of Student Learning) is optional, but 36,000 students had signed up for it this school year. The test is taken in the spring.

So, it's not as if he's getting rid of any mandatory testing, he said. A lot of students use it for practice. And Dorn said, if a student passes the test, it counts as if the student passsed the 10th grade WASL.

UPDATE: Here's that news release I promised you:

Ninth grade optional WASL testing cancelled

The number of ninth-grade registrations outpaced available funding

OLYMPIA — In an effort to avoid nearly $500,000 in unfunded testing costs, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction has cancelled optional Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) testing for ninth graders effective immediately.

[More:]

Beginning in 2006, OSPI allowed ninth graders the option of taking the high school WASL in math, reading and writing. The intent was to let students who felt they could meet standard on the high school WASL take the tests a year early. The high school WASL is designed to measure proficiency in math, reading, writing and science at the 10th grade level.

“In the past, OSPI has been able to financially support optional testing for ninth graders because the number was fairly small,” State Superintendent Randy Dorn said. “Now, the costs have grown significantly at the same time that an economic crisis is forcing our agency to cut optional programs and activities. This also supports moving forward with online testing because we would no longer have to print more than a million test booklets each year.”

Text Box: WASL testing for grades 3-8 and 10 not affected Since Supt. Randy Dorn’s January announcement of his plan to replace the WASL, schools have reported some confusion from students and families in regards to state testing in 2009. For grades 3-8 and 10, nothing is changing this spring. It is federal law that all students in those grades participate in state testing. For more information, please read the attached State Testing 2009 document.Pre-registration for this spring’s WASL testing ended Jan. 13. After that date, OSPI determined that it would cost $477,000 in additional testing costs not provided for in the current state budget. OSPI estimates that 2009 testing in grades 3-8 and 10 will account for approximately 1.7 million WASL test booklets to be printed, not counting 100,000 booklets for ninth graders.

Ninth graders who have already registered to take the math, reading and/or writing WASL tests this spring will now take the new High School Proficiency Exam next school year. More than 35,000 ninth graders registered to take spring 2009 WASL tests, nearly double the amount from 2008.

In 2008, more than 21,000 ninth graders took one or more of the state assessments (reading, writing and math), up from about 14,000 in 2007 and 6,300 in 2006.