Many years ago, as Washington State set out to determine high school requirements for the graduating class of 2008, one face kept appearing at the forefront for me… Joe.

As an elementary student he struggled, which impacted every aspect of his life. Physically, Joe has hearing/ sight impairments, heart abnormalities, and a cleft palette. In addition, his family fell apart during his middle school years, resulting in his dad becoming imprisoned. Later, high school was marked by the loss of many friends through drugs, dropping out of school, and even death.

In short, Joe is like many of the students that we have in our classrooms. He seemed to struggle each day to make it through. As an advocate for special needs students, I often wondered what his future would look like. Would he be able to read? Write? Would he graduate from high school? Hold a job? All these questions would be answered one morning when Joe proclaimed to me that he was going to pass the state assessments to graduate from high school. AND he was determined to do it without any special accommodations!

Soon after Joe set this goal, our after-school tutoring sessions intensified as I supported him in meeting his goal – a ‘real high school diploma.’ We worked on all subjects, but mostly writing, helping Joe to find power in his voice and learn to write in complete sentences. Joe had decided to master reading during his late elementary years, and it was the first area that he passed on the WASL, the first graduation requirement to check off. During the 11th grade year, he passed writing with a near-perfect score after several tries. But math waited in the wings; multiple attempts brought no success.

Even as he entered a new period of testing during his senior year, Joe remained steadfast in his pursuit of the original goal – to graduate high school with a diploma that was both meaningful and showed his hard work. After being unable to pass the math WASL multiple times, Joe took an alternative assessment, choosing to put together a collection of evidence. This proved to be the method that he needed to show what he knew.

Finally, in the spring of 2008, he was notified that he had passed (with a level 3 or better) all parts of the WASL… the phone call that came from Joe on that day is burned forever in my mind. He actually beamed through the phone. His pride in himself, and his gratefulness for those who had taught him, were unmistakable. Joe said he couldn’t have done it without everyone helping him make his dream a reality. A success story–but the implications go deeper.

We all have students like Joe in our classroom, students we worry about in the face of our assessment-driven educational system. Each “Joe” raises many questions: What helped Joe beat all the odds to meet his goal where others have failed? Was it his internal drive or the external support that the system provided?

I think every day about what we must do as an educational system to ensure that students like Joe reach their goals and dreams, so that all doors are opened to them upon graduation. Joe never stopped, even when a new barrier was tossed in his way. Joe defied the odds and proved everyone, including himself, that he could do it. His face walking across the stage at graduation with the class of 2008 is a memory that cannot be erased. But what about all the other Joes? Will they be walking across a stage someday?