School officials, students split over value of exit exams

Some of the most vocal opposition to these tests came from New Bedford, Mass., school committee Chair Scott Lang, who asked his city’s school committee to approve a policy granting an alternative “general” diploma to students who failed to pass the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System.

The school committee didn’t go forward with the policy. State officials had threatened to withhold millions of dollars in state funding if the district awarded diplomas to those who hadn’t met all state standards.

But Lang, who is also the mayor of New Bedford, says the controversy attracted needed attention to what he described as the state’s unfair policy regarding exit exams.

“It is nonsensical to tell students who have successfully completed the requisite high school curriculum that everything they have accomplished is meaningless if they cannot pass a standardized test,” he says. “These students did not drop out or flunk out.”

New Bedford’s gesture of defiance was just the latest chapter in a long-simmering debate in Massachusetts over exit exams. Over the years, parents and students have staged protests against the tests, and several school districts have talked of defying the state.

Active opposition to exit exams also has increased in California in recent months.

In addition to public protests by parents and students, a board member in the West Contra Costa Unified School District proposed awarding diplomas to students who accumulated enough credits to graduate but failed the test. His school board rejected that suggestion.

But earlier this month, opponents of the California exit exam made a last-minute -- if ultimately unsuccessful -- attempt in court to delay the use of the test as a graduation requirement. A similar legal challenge to Arizona’s exit exam also failed.

While acknowledging the need for high standards, opponents of these exams argue that students who have completed 12 years of school and all the requirements of graduation are being unfairly penalized based on the results of a single test. Critics also say the tests are discriminatory.

“It hasn’t been a level playing field,” says Jerry Houseman, a school board member for California’s Sacramento City Unified School District. “Youngsters who tend not to pass the exam are those who are English learners, special education students, kids of poverty. The state has not provided the resources for them all along.”

This argument has been going on since the 1990s, when the standards movement prompted state policymakers to embrace the idea of a high-stakes test as a graduation requirement. Today, at least 26 states either have an exit exam or are considering adopting one.

Supporters argue that the tests serve as an incentive to students. “As a result of the exit exam, our students have studied harder and learned more than they would have otherwise,” Jack O’Connell, California’s state superintendent of public instruction, recently claimed.

In Sacramento, Houseman says he supports standards but believes there should be more alternatives for students who fall short on the tests. In the meantime, he proposed reversing his district’s policy that prevents students who fail the state exam -- but complete 12th grade -- from participating in graduation ceremonies.

The school board rejected that proposal, and about 100 of the district’s 12th graders are likely to join tens of thousands of students statewide who, as of mid-June, had yet to pass the state test.

For them, there are only limited options to still earn a dip­loma: attend summer school or enroll in adult education or a special community college program.

Such options are helpful, but some school officials say not all students will take advantage of them. What they’d like to see are more alternatives available while students are still in school.

Some state policymakers are listening, and at least nine states have introduced or expanded alternative paths for students to earn a diploma.

About 2 percent of Georgia students have applied for a “variance” that will allow them to earn a diploma without passing the entire round of state tests. In Indiana, more than 3,300 seniors graduated last year under a program for those who failed the state’s exit exam.