Board OKs tying tests’ scores with graduation
Posted on Tuesday, May 13, 2008
In preparation for stricter student testing requirements that will go into effect in 2009-10, the Arkansas Board of Education on Monday gave preliminary approval to a set of rules for that program.
Act 2243 of 2005 and Act 35 of the 2003 special legislative session on education call for students beginning in 2009-10 to pass the state’s End of Course exams in algebra I, geometry, biology and literacy, or alternate assessments in those subjects, to qualify for graduation from high school.
Students must pass each exam to get credit for the related courses. Each of the courses — algebra, geometry, biology and 11 th grade English — is an Arkansas high school graduation requirement.
“In essence, folks, what we are getting to is a de facto [high school ] exit exam,” Arkansas Education Commissioner Ken James told the Education Board. “If you don’t pass the examination, you are denied your diploma.” The proposed rules, which will be the subject of a public hearing before the state board considers final approval, would enable a student who fails an End of Course exam to retake the test up to three times.
If a student does not pass the test after the three repeat attempts, the student will be required to take an “alternate exit” course and one or more alternate assessments until the student either passes the required test or turns 21 and is no longer eligible to attend public schools.
“The department is putting this out now... to establish this mechanism so that the state can see what will be expected of students,” Scott Smith, the Department of Education’s legal counsel, told the board on Monday.
As it stands, students are required to take End of Course exams, but they are not precluded by a low test score from graduating — as long as they participate in remediation programs.
The End of Course tests are given to students as they complete the coursework in the tested subject. The math and science tests are usually given to students in the eighth, ninth and 10 th grades, depending on when they take algebra I, geometry and biology. The broad literacy test, which covers reading and writing, is given in the 11 th grade.
While several other states have put into place mandatory high school exit exams, Arkansas has not. A plan in the early 1990 s to phase in an Arkansas high school exit exam was abandoned before it ever took effect.
Legal challenges to high school exit exams in other states make it apparent that students must be given not one but several opportunities to pass the exams that determine their eligiblity to graduate, James told the board.
The proposed rules call for the Department of Education to annually set a passing score for each End of Course exam. The score must be equal to a “proficient” level of achievement on the test. Proficient is defined by the state as grade-level work.
The proposed rules also require that a passing score be set for the alternative assessment that is commensurate with a basic level of achievement. Basic achievement is defined by the state as work in which a student has some understanding of the skills but is not up to grade-level work.
The difference in the scoring for the two exams prompted questions from Dr. Ben Mays, an Education Board member of Clinton.
“Is the bar a student really has to get over the basic bar ?” Mays asked. “Is the incentive to try harder on the first test so they don’t have to go through remediation ?” James said the mandatory exams must incorporate some flexibility.
“We are not saying we don’t want to get kids to a proficient level,” James said. “But we are saying... when you are denying a diploma because of the failure of one test, then we need to have some level of flexibility in these alternative examinations. The other states that have faced this [in ] litigation found out very quickly that one examination, without subsequent opportunities for remediation and examinations, will not hold up.” Board member Brenda Gullett of Fayettville questioned whether the proposed rules would necessitate limiting the use of textbooks to just those that directly address what is tested so that students will be prepared.
“We have never held students accountable for an End-of-Course exam that will determine whether they graduate, so I’m thinking that we ought to very carefully limit the textbooks that are chosen... as a way to ensure that the students are exposed to the material they are going to be tested on,” Gullett said.
James said the variety of textbooks on the state’s approved list of books are supposed to be aligned with state education standards or “frameworks.” “The textbook should never be the driver of what goes on in the classroom,” James said. “It’s a supplement to get to the point of what we have decided in our frameworks what kids need to know and be able to do in particular courses.”
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