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Controversial Gateway exam recommended for scrap pile
The American Diploma Project is sponsored by Achieve, the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, and Education Trust. That's probably all you need to know, but should you want to know more, enter "American Diploma" on the search on the homepage of this site and you'll find plenty more.
According to how he is quoted in this article, Dr. Gary L. Nixon, executive director of the Tennessee State Board of Education, feels the American Diploma Project is needed to ensure that Tennessee students are taught "to the level of perplexity required."
By Florence M. Howard
The Gateway exam – a high school graduation requirement – appears on its way toward elimination.
"That is our recommendation," Dr. Gary L. Nixon, executive director of the Tennessee State Board of Education, said on Monday from his Nashville office. "We’ll have to have a new test developed."
The State Board of Education has the authority to set graduation requirements, testing requirements, and accountability measures. Shelby County legislators introduced a bill last May directing the board to study the feasibility of developing alternative paths to high school diplomas for students who do not pass Gateway exams.
Sponsored by Rep. Gary Rowe, Sen. Barbara Marrero and others, the bill passed. It required the report to be submitted to House and Senate education committees by January 1.
The report, submitted before Christmas, recommends expansion of the end-of-course testing program and, thus, elimination of the Gateway examinations. Rowe said that he gets his first look at the report this week when the 105th General Assembly reconvenes.
Nixon said curriculum standards are being rewritten as part of their association with the American Diploma Project (ADP) and that the state board and the Tennessee Department of Education began looking at reassessment two years ago.
According to the Memphis City Schools Office of Assessment, the mandatory Gateway graduation requirement was implemented here in 2000-01. The controversial standard requires students to pass each of three Gateway exams in math, science, and English before graduating with a regular diploma.
This has been a source of heartbreak and shame for students who "graduate" without a regular diploma. Despite the fact that they may have completed grades K-12 satisfactorily or participated in the high school graduation program, students who fail the Gateway receive a non-graduate diploma or certificate of attendance. Thereafter, they are ineligible to attempt a regular diploma or take the GED.
Until now, there has been no alternative or safety net.
Wilson
"The diploma I have would not do what I thought it would do," said Latricia Wilson, who graduated from Westside High School in 2002. Because she has a cognitive learning disability, she received a special diploma when she did not pass the Gateway math exam.
This summer, Wilson became a plaintiff in a class action lawsuit against the State of Tennessee. The complaint charged that the state has created a permanent socio-economic underclass and damaged students, with cognitive disabilities, by not providing an alternative assessment.
"It didn’t dawn on me that I was being blocked at every level," said Wilson, 25, "until I went to practically every school in Memphis and was turned down."
Wilson was turned down because community colleges, technical schools, universities and other post-secondary training programs generally require a regular high school diploma. Wilson said she was also told that she would not or might not be eligible for federal funding through the Pell Grant Program. After taking her story to the media, she was admitted to the cosmetology program at Tennessee Technology Center at Memphis.
Now in her second semester at Tennessee Tech, Wilson said it took her awhile to realize her situation because she was busy holding down a job.
"I tried to get a better job and was turned down. I tried to go to school and was turned down. You don’t realize the impact until later – until you’re getting older and looking to better yourself."
Designating education as the key to Tennessee’s future success, the report on alternative paths to high school graduation states: Tennessee’s social and economic future depends on our ability to increase the percentage of students who leave high school ready for workforce training and college….Though more and more of Tennessee’s young people aspire to meaningful post-secondary options, many of them leave high school unprepared for the challenges that await them.
Elsie Bailey, MCS High School Academic Superintendent, said that while she doesn’t have all the details as yet, the new curriculum is expected to be more challenging than current standards.
"The Gateway is going out in 2009-2010," Bailey said. "The (state) board is going to a more rigorous assessment."
Instead of high-stakes testing like the Gateway, Nixon said that new tests in science, math and English will count as only 25% of the grade in conjunction with eight or nine other end-of-course tests. He said they are also recommending alternative assessments for students with learning disabilities.
Another recommendation adds measures for disparity – the difference between teacher-assigned grades and assessment test results. Nixon said this addresses the issue of grade inflation caused by students either not being taught the right way or to the level of perplexity required.
The State Board of Education is the policymaking arm of Tennessee’s educational system. The Tennessee Department of Education headed by Commission Lana Seivers has responsibility for implementing those policies. Department spokesman, Rachel Woods said implementation would involve training of teachers, handling finances, and various other activities. She said the department has 600 employees.
Glad to be in school at last, Wilson is stilled concerned about others trapped by the Gateway dilemma. On January 12, she will speak to the National Coalition of 100 Black Women at 10 a.m. at the National Civil Rights Museum. She invites other disenfranchised graduates to hear her story and to join her in the fight for a better future.
"I still have a special diploma. Nothing has changed, but I’m probably one of the first students in my situation to get into school," she said. "I failed the Gateway. I failed the TCAP. But I mastered getting into school, which was to prove to the state that no one test should hold someone back from presuming post-secondary education or pursuing your goals. My ultimate goal is to go to school."
Because of stigma, shame and a sense of failure, Wilson said, most graduates don’t talk about their special diploma or certificate of attendance. And, while she proudly displayed her graduation picture, she said that she hid her diploma in the closet when friends came over.
— Florence M. Howard
Tri-State Defender
2008-01-11
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
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