Exam For High School Graduation? Some Say No

By Matthew Daly

Associated Press

HARTFORD — To state Rep Robert Ward, the value of an exit exam for high school seniors is plain.

Before they graduate, students should be able to read, write, and do math – and pass a test to prove it.

While few disagree on the importance of reading, writing, and arithmetic, that last part – the test – might not make the grade with lawmakers.

Ward’s proposal for a mandatory exit exam starting in 2005 faces a fierce fight at the state Capitol, and for the second year in a row, opponents say the Republican lawmaker is unlikely to win.

Ward, of North Branford, serves as House minority leader and has made the exit exam a top priority of the GOP caucus. He introduced a similar bill last year that was defeated in the Democrat-controlled Legislature, but said the proposal has more momentum this year.

More importantly, Ward said, the exit exam would ensure that a Connecticut diploma means something – to colleges, potential employers, and most of all, to the students themselves.

“The purpose of school is to have kids learn, and I believe a fair standard will encourage student achievement,” he said.

“We talk a lot about education accountability,” Ward added. “Doesn’t it make sense to put safeguards in place that will demonstrate our children are graduating high school with all the... skills they need?”

But critics call Ward’s proposal too little, too late, and say it could lead to a sharp increase in the number of high-school dropouts.

The state already tests students in the fourth, sixth, eighth, and 10th grades, so adding another test, with little time for students to make up for shortcomings, is counterproductive, critics said.

“To wait until the last minute, right before high school graduation, to weed out students in need of additional remediation is ridiculous,” said Sen Thomas Gaffey, D-Meriden, co-chairman of the Legislature’s Education Committee.

About two dozen states have some type of exit exam, but many states, including Alaska, North Carolina, and California, are considering delays or other changes after discovering high failure rates and other problems.

Gaffey’s co-chairman, Rep Cameron Staples, D-New Haven, said problems with the exit exam are not surprising.

“We know enough to know that different people perform well on different types of assessments,” Staples said, noting that some students who get straight A’s in high school do poorly on the SAT because they don’t test well or have some kind of anxiety about standardized tests.

“The notion that one test should determine whether you graduate or not is not the way to go,” Staples said.

State Education Commissioner Theodore S. Sergi also is skeptical. At a public hearing last week, Sergi said the state Board of Education opposes the exam, in part because President Bush and the Republican-led Congress are discussing changes that could include a national testing requirement for high schools.

“I don’t think we need it right now,” Sergi said after the hearing. “I think we’d be wise to wait.”

Still, Sergi, Staples, and other officials said they agree with Ward’s basic notion: that the state should have some way to evaluate how well high school students perform on fundamental tasks.

The question is when to make that evaluation – and how to respond to students who fall short.

The state officials said they were impressed with a plan in Milford that sets local requirements for student competence. As outlined at the public hearing, Milford students who achieve a certain level on the 10th grade exam are cleared of any further hurdles to graduation, beyond acquiring the necessary course credits.

Students who need improvement in reading, writing, or math are given help, but must pass a written exam in the designated area before graduating.

Staples called Milford’s approach the right way to ensure that students demonstrate a minimum level of competency, without penalizing those who fall under recommended guidelines.

If he and Ward can agree on compromise language that encourages local districts to develop performance criteria, “there’s a good chance” the bill could be approved in the House, Staples said.

Otherwise, the measure is likely to be defeated again, Staples said.

But Ward said the dynamics have changed since last year – most notably with the election of Bush, a Republican who has made education accountability a cornerstone of his presidency.

After his appearance at the public hearing, Ward said, he got an unexpected email from a veteran professor at the University of Connecticut.

The professor, who has taught 16,000 freshmen in his university career, supports the bill. Far too many students, he told Ward, “lack the necessary skills in English to perform appropriately” at the college level.

“If that doesn’t tell you that a large number of our students aren’t learning, I don’t know what does,” Ward said.