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Thursday, September 6, 2007
Exit Exams: What’s The Point?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Center on Education Policy has just released its latest report on high school graduation exams, which the group has been tracking since 2002. Twenty-two states, including Georgia, now require public school students to pass a standardized test to receive a diploma.
CEP’s 176-page report points out one fact that I’ve long found, well, confounding. That is, that some states — including Georgia — which use the exams to judge a school’s performance under No Child Left Behind, allow different passing standards for schools and students.
In other words, the cut scores needed for a student to pass the exam and those needed for a school to meet Adequate Yearly Progress are not the same. In fact, students in Georgia can fail the test for AYP purposes, yet still pass the exam and graduate.
Got that?
I’ll state it another way: A junior must earn a score of 500 (on a scale of 400 to 600) to pass any of the subject tests, according to the latest cut scores from the state Department of Education. But in order to have their score count as “proficient” for AYP purposes, students must earn a score of 511 on the English portion and 516 on math. So all those kids who earned their diploma with a 500, don’t count.
Now exactly what kind of message is this sending about our graduates?
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