|
|
9486 in the collection
N.J. exit exam's high failure rate raises concern
New Jersey DOE Flunksk AHSA Test, But Thousands of Seniors Will Pay
by Education Law Center
Thousands of high school seniors will not graduate next month unless Education Commissioner Bret Schundler and the NJ Department of Education (NJDOE) move quickly to correct the Department's mishandling of the new Alternate High School Assessment (AHSA).
Major problems with the new test surfaced last month when results of the January AHSA were returned to districts. About 9500 students took the math test, but only 3240 or 34% passed. Some 4500 students took the language arts test, but only 430 or 10% passed. Pass rates for all district factor groups were below 50% in math and 20% in language arts. In 120 districts not a single student passed the LAL arts assessment. In 40 districts no students passed the math assessment.
The AHSA is a "high stakes" graduation test designed to replace the often-criticized special review assessment (SRA). It is given to students who do not pass the traditional High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA) and covers the same material in a different format. The alternative test has been used annually by about 12,000 students statewide to earn their high school diplomas.
Since the content of the test was not changed, the low passing rates were clearly the result of new administration and scoring procedures implemented this year by NJDOE, including turning the scoring over to a commercial vendor, Measurement Inc. The results were returned to schools just three months before graduation and have put future plans for thousands of students and their families, including many students who have already been accepted into college, in jeopardy.
NJDOE has flunked the AHSA in the multiple ways. But so far NJ high school seniors are paying the price. Here's a summary of how NJDOE failed the test: (For full details click here.)
* NJDOE failed to conduct any pilot testing of the new AHSA, as done with all previous graduation tests. In fact, department officials admitted the results were "a great surprise" because "we did not field test the scoring."
* The Department failed to have AHSA scoring done by certified NJ educators as promised.
* NJDOE failed to address reports of inconsistencies and irregularities in Measurement Inc.'s scoring and training processes.
* NJDOE failed to provide feedback on the January results so teachers and students could better prepare for the April test.
* NJDOE failed to provide the extra time and other testing accommodations, including translation materials, that were the original reasons for having an alternative exam. These are especially important for English language learners and students who struggle with traditional, timed multiple-choice standardized tests.
* NJDOE failed to consider the disparate impact on English language learners and students in high need districts.
* The Department has responded to this debacle with "damage control" by "rescoring" some, but not all, of the January tests and asking districts to allow students to participate in graduation ceremonies without receiving a diploma.
* The Department insists on using the results of this flawed process to deny diplomas to thousands of students who stayed in school, passed their courses, and met all other requirements for graduation.
These policies are unfair to students and their families and bad for New Jersey. If NJDOE wants to change the standards for high school graduation, it cannot apply those standards for the first time just three months before graduation.
In NJ, over 100,000 young people between the ages of 18 and 24 are unemployed and not in school. The NJ High School Graduation campaign reported that in 2007, 19,000 students failed to graduate at a lifetime cost in lost earnings of $4.9 billion. That same year, 11,474 students used the SRA to earn their high school diplomas. Which statistic poses a bigger threat to NJ's future?
Denying diplomas to thousands of students on the basis of this year's AHSA test scores is neither fair nor sensible. Individual graduation decisions this June should be made by the districts, schools and educators that know these students best, as was done under the previous SRA guidelines. NJDOE should treat this year's AHSA results as the pilot it should have conducted in the first place and put a better process in place for next year, making sure that students and teachers have multiple pathways to success.
To contact NJDOE Officials about the AHSA:
Bret Schundler
Commissioner of Education
Office of the Commissioner
100 River View Plaza
P.O. Box 500
Trenton, NJ 08625
Telephone (609) 292-4450
Fax (609) 777-4099
Willa Spicer
Deputy Commissioner
Office of NJ Deputy Commissioner of Education
609-984-5069 Tel
609-633-9553 Fax
For more info contact:
Stan Karp, Director, Secondary Reform Project, skarp@edlawcenter.org, 973.624.1815 ext.28.
By Rita Giordano
The June graduation of thousands of students could be at risk after most who took New Jersey's retooled alternative exit exam during the winter failed to pass, according to data obtained by the Education Law Center.
In January, 10,308 students statewide took the math Alternative High School Assessment (AHSA), the test given to students who do not pass the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA). Of those students, 9,514 took all required parts of the test and only 34 percent passed, according to the law center's data.
Of the 4,293 who took all required parts of the language arts test, only 10 percent passed.
In Burlington and Camden Counties, 13 percent of students who took all language-arts sections passed. In Gloucester County, the rate was 6 percent, according to the data.
On the math, about one-third passed in all three counties.
Among Camden City students, only 4 percent passed the reading and writing test, and 8 percent passed the math.
The law center has called on the state to treat this year's test as a pilot, as it has other high-stakes tests in their early years, and let local districts determine whether students may graduate this spring while the state reviews the new test process.
"They rolled this out and have been making this up as they have been going along," said Stan Karp, director of the law center's Secondary Reform Project.
Thousands of students might not graduate, and many might just drop out, he said. Most affected will be low-income students, students of color, and nonnative English speakers.
Many students who have struggled through four years of school are very demoralized, educators said.
"I have one student who got accepted to a four-year college on a football scholarship," said Erica Schmid, a Maple Shade teacher. "He doesn't know if he can go."
Deputy Education Commissioner Willa Spicer said it was the schools that the failing students attended that might have some answering to do.
"Somehow, [the students] reached their senior year without mastering fundamental math and language arts skills," Spicer said in a statement. "The schools that failed the students must be held accountable for the results, and we must do a better job of helping students long before their final year of study."
Spicer, who did not try to refute the law center's information but called it "incomplete and unofficial," said the state would not throw out the test scores. If students ultimately fail, she said, they will have been given six chances - three tries each on the HSPA and AHSA - to prove mastery of basic skills.
Another round of AHSA testing finished last week, and students will get an additional chance, if needed, in August. She said she hoped more would pass.
In the meantime, Spicer said, the state is in the process of having 3,600 tests with marginal results reevaluated to see whether more should get a passing grade.
Education Commissioner Bret Schundler recommended that school administrators let students who have yet to pass the test take part in graduation ceremonies but withhold their diplomas until they pass. Schools, however, don't have to let the students walk.
The AHSA replaced the Special Review Assessment, which some critics say was overused and needed more accountability. The content of the tests is basically the same, officials and educators said, but they are administered differently. Also, the new test is being scored by an outside firm, Measurement Inc. of North Carolina, instead of by the students' teachers.
Many in the education community said they were shocked by the low passing rate, especially since the former rate was about 96 percent.
The law center and educators differ sharply from the state on what is to blame for January's poor results.
State spokesman Alan Guenther said the biggest difference from the past was that an outsider, rather than New Jersey teachers, graded the new exams. Guenther said the teachers might have treated their students too leniently.
"We were concerned that the integrity of the high school diploma was being compromised," he said.
Spicer said the state Board of Education had concerns for years about the way the previous exam was administered, including the fact that the students' teachers graded them.
Educators and the center, however, said the problem was the unstudied changes made to the process, which include fewer opportunities for retakes, as well as fewer reading selections and some that were not culturally neutral. They also question the training and qualifications of the graders, and they want an explanation of grading standards.
In addition, educators said that in the past, students were provided scoring guides for specific language-arts passages, which explained what was needed to earn a given grade. The guides were not given out this year.
Ann Ryan, a high school English teacher in Lindenwold, said that after the January test results came out a few weeks ago - with only a few weeks to help prepare students for the next testing round - the state would not provide the scoring guides or students' failing answers to help them figure out where they fell short.
"It's patently unfair because it creates a mystery," Ryan said. "The kids have zero feedback on their January scores. The teachers got no feedback."
Defending the state's procedures, Guenther noted that nonnative speakers can use dictionaries during the tests if terms are unfamiliar. He dismissed the importance of the scoring guides educators said were helpful.
"Skilled teachers can easily discern and interpret their students' deficiencies," he said.
Students should not just be passed through, he said. "The diploma has to mean something."
Anthony Ferrante, director of high school guidance in Maple Shade, did not disagree but said that something had obviously changed in the process and that teachers needed to be informed.
"Kids will need to demonstrate they have the knowledge," he said. "No one is saying, give them a free pass. Just give them a fair assessment."
Karp, calling for the state to set this year's results aside, said prospective 2010 graduates should not be penalized for what he believed was a flawed process.
"If the department wants to change the standard, they can't do it . . . months before graduation," he said.
— Rita Giordano & Stan Karp
Philadelphia Inquirer & Education Law Center
2010-05-04
http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20100504_N_J__exit_exam_s_high_failure_rate_raises_concern.html
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
Pages: 380
[1] 2 3 4 5 6 Next >> Last >>
|
