Massachusetts allows exemptions for students who fail exit exam
By Carol Chmelynski
12/24/02 - As more state-mandated high school exit exams begin to take effect over the next few years, education officials across the nation will be closely watching states like Massachusetts, where seniors must pass an exam to graduate this June.
The process to implement an exit exam in Massachusetts has not gone smoothly.
After three tries, 19 percent or about 12,000 members of the Class of 2003 - the first required to pass the controversial Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) - still had to pass one or more sections of the 10th grade test to graduate.
High school seniors took the exit exam again Dec. 9, and the state department of education will release the results in February. If students fail this retest, another retest will be given in May, but students won't get their results in time for graduation day. They may, however, take the test an unlimited number of times after high school.
Acting Gov. Jane Swift announced Dec. 16 that she expects as few as 3,000 students will be denied diplomas for failing the MCAS, far fewer than the number predicted by critics of the test.
Since its debut in 1998, anti-MCAS activists have fought the exam through protests, boycotts, and grassroots campaigns. On Dec. 2, a federal judge refused to hear a lawsuit seeking to declare the test illegal and directed the case to a state court.
Several bills have been proposed to soften the MCAS requirement, such as giving more leeway to students in special education or vocational education and giving parents and students access to their test booklets.
Students who fail can file an appeal or receive an alternative district or state credential honoring their other achievements.
State Education Commissioner David P. Driscoll announced Dec. 10 that appeals have been granted to some 200 students. Even though they had failed the MCAS, these students had demonstrated through their school work and effort that they knew enough to graduate.
Driscoll estimates that another 300 or so students will be granted waivers over the next few months.
Only students who had taken the test three times and scored within four points of the 220-passing rate were eligible for waivers. Also, superintendents had to file detailed appeals that showed these students' grades compared to those of classmates who had passed the test, that they had near-perfect attendance, and that they had taken part in MCAS tutoring. A teacher recommendation was also required.
If waivers don't work, schools have the option of awarding "certificates of attainment" to students who fail the MCAS but pass their courses. To be eligible for a certificate, students must take the exam at least three times before their June graduation date and have an attendance rate of at least 90 percent.
The program will be reviewed annually and will expire after two years to guard against school districts encouraging low-achieving students to get certificates of attainment instead of pushing them to pass the MCAS and earn a diploma.
Driscoll, who proposed the certificate in hopes of calming critics who call MCAS a one-size-fits-all mandate, says it's important to recognize students whose only reason for not graduating is their failure to pass MCAS. Driscoll has asked U.S. Education Secretary Rod Paige to consider making students who earn a certificate eligible for financial aid for college - a benefit usually reserved for students with diplomas.
Glenn Koocher, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees (MASC), says the certificate will only placate the public temporarily. MASC opposes the use of a single test to determine the fate of a student or the worth of a school district.
"To some extent, this skillfully takes some of the pressure off the department of education by allowing districts to put something in the folder of the kids who show up at graduation but can't graduate," he says. "The fact that kids aren't really graduating will be something that few people in the audience understand."
Meanwhile, he says, the glaring effects of the graduation requirement on students who have struggled the most on the exams - those in special education or vocational education or those with with limited-English skills - remain.
Most state education officials continue to support MCAS, but some state legislators think that conviction could fade as June draws near.
Sen. Cynthia Creem has proposed a bill that would replace MCAS with multiple assessments that more accurately determine achievement. Sen. Brian Joyce is proposing a bill that would allow local school districts to decide what requirements individual special education and learning disabled students would have to meet to graduate.
Some 20 other bills are expected to be filed on various aspects of the state testing system, including one proposed by MASC "to defer the graduation requirement until those issues involving special education, bilingual education, vocational education, and the appropriateness of a single test are resolved," Koocher says.
Meanwhile, 449 students who had failed the MCAS have learned that they did, indeed, pass and will graduate in June, thanks to student Jennifer Mueller, who persuaded state education officials to accept an alternative answer to a MCAS math question. Mueller, a senior at Whitman-Hanson Regional High School, however, is still two points short of the 220 score needed to graduate.
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| Reproduced with permission from the Dec. 24, 2002, issue of School Board News. Copyright © 2002, National School Boards Association. Opinions expressed in this newspaper do not necessarily reflect positions of NSBA. This article may be printed out and photocopied for individual or educational use, provided this copyright notice appears on each copy. This article may not be otherwise transmitted or reproduced in print or electronic form without the consent of the Publisher. For more information, call (703) 838-6789. |