Graduation testing gets public airing in Salem
Wednesday, May 28, 2008 11:41 PM PDT
By Julia Silverman
The Associated Press
Printable version
E-mail this articleSALEM, Ore. — The unconventional approach proposed by the Oregon Board of Education to test whether high school students have earned their diploma could be in for some fine-tuning, after feedback from the public.
Due for a final vote next month, the draft plan would allow students to earn their diplomas in one of three ways, starting with the class of 2012:
• By passing existing state tests in reading, writing and math, and demonstrating they’ve mastered public speaking and higher-level applied math. Students would get nine chances to pass the tests — three times apiece in 10th, 11th and 12th grades.
• Getting a certain score on a national standardized test, like the ACT or the SAT.
• Passing locally written assessments in key subjects, such as work samples or portfolios that would be graded according to a statewide scoring guide.
The three-pronged approach is unorthodox. About 25 states currently require high schoolers to pass a single, high-stakes test to graduate, a scenario Oregon has shied away from with the neighboring states of Washington and California struggling with low passing rates.
Superintendents and teachers have made it plain they don’t want Oregon to go that route.
In a letter to the state Board of Education, Eugene superintendent George Russell wrote, “Sole dependence on exit exams...to determine graduation has proven problematic across the nation. Dropout rates have increased and more students fail to graduate. Parents have sued states on behalf of their students who were denied diplomas. In classrooms, teachers and students focus more on tests and less on learning.”
Instead, Russell and other superintendents advocate that “an authentic assessment designed and administered by trained, local teachers,” be available for students who need it.
But creating three alternate routes has led to some concern, too, particularly that students who get a diploma via the localized method will be taking the easy way out.
Right now, only 65 percent of 10th-graders meet or exceed state standards on reading, 54 percent do so for math and 54 percent make the grade on state writing tests. That number would probably jump out of sheer motivation if passage of the state tests is required for graduation, said Gene Evans, a spokesman for the state Department of Education. But an estimated 15 or 20 percent of students probably wouldn’t be able to pass in all subjects.
That’s where the locally developed alternatives come in, but there are still unanswered questions about what they’d look like, such as who would score the work and how much it would cost district to develop their own testing equivalents.
State education officials plan to ask the 2009 legislature for $16 million to help districts cope with the demands of the new diploma requirements.
“You want it to be a credible alternative to the state tests,” said Michael Cohen, the president of Achieve, Inc., a Washington, D.C. based group that focuses on academic standards. “It’s worth investing the time to make sure there is a consistency of scoring across the state.”
A few other states have experimented with local alternatives, Cohen said, including New Jersey and Nebraska, with mixed results.
Along with making some sort of test or work sample mandatory in order to graduate, the state Board of Education voted 18 months ago to increase graduation requirements, from 22 credits to 24, including higher-level math courses and an additional science credit. The change is still causing some angst, particularly among rural districts and parents of students with special needs.
Jill Zurschmeide, a Tigard-Tualatin school board member and mother of a daughter with autism, said at a public hearing in Salem Wednesday that the combination of the new requirements and the in-district student testing option might lead to increased class sizes and decreased time for classroom instruction.
”In any district that doesn’t have the resources to implement these changes, the children will suffer consequences,” she said.
spider50 wrote on May 28, 2008 9:28 PM:
WHO NEEDS HIGHER MATH SKILLS? "
Past Month's Most Commented Stories