9486 in the collection
Standardisto Complaint About CA Test Postponement
Ohanian Comment: It's hard to imagine a "news" account being more biased.
Delay spurs standards debate
Educators worry postponement of exit requisite 'sends the wrong message.'
Jessica Cuevas did what she was supposed to do to pass the high school exit exam.
She took a summer school class last year after she flunked. The 17-year-old already had taken algebra as a sophomore, but the Fullerton native still failed math – and she was scared that she wouldn't graduate next year.
"I try my hardest, and I can't do it. It gets me really mad," said Cuevas, an incoming senior at Fullerton High.
The state found there were too many students like Cuevas who weren't prepared for the exam. In response, the board voted to delay until 2006 the requirement that students pass it to graduate, instead of beginning the requirement with the Class of 2004.
While the decision is a relief to failing students, it raises serious concerns among some educators and parents that California is backing away from its commitment to ensure that students master core subjects and to improve the state's bottom-ranked educational system.
The California exam is an essential part of the state's accountability system, built around approved standards starting in 1997. The exam is based on eighth- grade level algebra and 10th-grade level English.
Nationwide, 19 states are denying diplomas to seniors who flunk exit exams. Five more states, including California, are expected to have testing requirements by 2008. Others have delayed the requirement.
"People in schools who have been working to implement these reforms can wonder, 'Does this mean that this, too, shall pass in the future? What about the hard work that we've put in place?" said Keith Gayler, who has studied exit-exam policies and is associate director of the Washington-based Center on Education Policy.
"The other message it sends is a very positive one: 'We realize that we need some more time to implement this.' "
ARGUMENTS
The state Board of Education voted to delay the requirement that to graduate students must pass the California High School Exit Examination, which would have started next school year. Here are the main arguments for and against the delay.
PRO:
• It is unfair to require students to pass a test on material they haven’t been taught. Schools have yet to get new textbooks, and teachers haven’t been trained in standards, a set of skills students are supposed to know by certain grades.
• Students are unable to learn the material quickly enough. Students’ self-esteem will suffer if they keep failing.
• Too many students would not be able to graduate from high school, putting them at risk of failure in life and increasing their chances of dropping out.
CON:
• Schools should have already taught students the material covered in the standards. The test is based on eighth-grade math and 10th-grade English. The state started approving standards in 1997.
• Students will learn the material if you hold them accountable.
• Students shouldn’t earn a diploma if they haven’t learned the basics. There should be high standards for a diploma.
In Orange County, the passing rates vary dramatically by district, with the lowest rates in areas such as Santa Ana, where most students are learning English, and higher rates in affluent areas, such as Irvine. Statewide, Hispanic and black students score lower. By January, just 54 percent of poor students had passed math and 37 percent of English learners had done so.
Some educators believe that California should have stuck with its original plan. By backing off, schools are failing to hold students responsible for learning material they should have learned years ago.
"We just always felt that there should be a standard for high school graduation," said Kenny Torres, a science teacher at Los Alamitos High.
Garden Grove, for example, wants to give students a goal.
"It sends the wrong message to the affected students," said Alan Trudell, the district's spokesman. "Many students don't have the motivation to learn in class. They just want to get a diploma."
A May state report convinced the board that 2004 was too early, estimating that about 20 percent of seniors would fail by the year's end.
Next year's seniors were already in middle school by the time standards were starting. While eighth-graders now are expected to take algebra, that subject wasn't a requirement for high school until a few years ago. Schools didn't have enough time, teacher training, textbooks and resources to get the Class of 2004 up to speed in time to pass.
"I think we had been overly optimistic (about the) 2004 date," said Jack O'Connell, the state superintendent of public instruction, who, while in the Legislature, sponsored the 1999 law that created the exit exam.
Although schools are behind in meeting standards, the exit exam has prompted schools to increase instruction, buy more textbooks and train teachers. In 1999, only 20 percent of schools covered at least three-fourths of the standards, while this year, about 80 percent cover that much.
Robby Scharfeld, an incoming senior at Tesoro High in Rancho Santa Margarita, said his teacher tutored him every day during lunch for about three weeks before the most recent time he took the test.
"Some kids don't prepare for it. Last time I did, so I was ready for it," said Scharfeld, 18.
Mardel Kolls, Santa Ana's director of research and evaluation, said she would have preferred a one-year delay, rather than two years. Her district has added extra time to the high-school day and beefed up elementary lessons.
"I think many of the things that we've put in place, from preschool on, will begin to see the benefits as those kids move forward," Kolls said.
— Sarah Tully
Delay spurs standards debate
Orange County Register
July 10, 2003
http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/ocr/article.do?id=47223§ion=NEWS&subsection=FOCUS_IN_DEPTH&year=2003&month=7&day=10
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
Pages: 380
[1] 2 3 4 5 6 Next >> Last >>
