Pa. coalition favors testing high school seniors

From the Inquirer.

Pa. coalition favors testing high school seniors
By Dan Hardy Posted on Thu, Apr. 23, 2009

Inquirer Staff Writer
A newly formed statewide coalition added its voice yesterday to the debate about whether Pennsylvania should develop statewide tests that some high school students would have to pass to get a diploma.

The group - which includes teachers' unions, parent groups, advocates for special education and the gifted, school administrators' organizations, and the Pennsylvania NAACP - said it favored the voluntary use of proposed state tests by school districts as final exams in 10 subjects.

But it said it opposed a state Education Department proposal that would make passing such tests a condition for graduation.

Some of the tests, the group said, might also be used in the future to replace Pennsylvania's 11th grade math and reading PSSAs - the state's No Child Left Behind competency tests. But the state test could count for no more than 20 percent of any final course grade, it said.

The group - Coalition for Effective and Responsible Testing (CERT) - announced its proposals at a news conference in Harrisburg.

State Sen. Andrew Dinniman (D, Chester), the minority chair of the Education Committee, joined the coalition members, saying the proposal "provides local teachers and school boards some degree of control over the test."

In a statement, Senate Education Committee Chairman Jeffrey Piccola (R., Dauphin) said this was "another positive development in the conversation and ongoing debate to enact a system of strengthened assessments that can be supported by everyone."

Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak said in a statement that "we have seen nearly every state-level education association acknowledge the limitations of the status quo and the need for reform." But under CERT's proposal, he said, "you lose the assurance that any student in any school is actually able to show they are meeting high school academic standards."

The CERT plan is the latest round in a contentious exchange about whether Pennsylvania should beef up graduation requirements, which now are determined mainly by school districts with little uniformity across the state.

Since early 2008, the state Board of Education, the Department of Education, and the Rendell administration have pushed for comprehensive state tests, saying thousands of graduates lack the skills needed to succeed in college and the workforce. Any change would be phased in over several years and would not affect current high school students.

The state now requires that to graduate from high school, students must complete a senior project and either pass the math or reading PSSAs or pass graduation assessments set by their districts. Most districts use their own measures to set graduation eligibility.

Critics complain that a district's assessments often have not been evaluated by any outside group to see whether they really meet state standards. For example, a required course such as Algebra 1 in one district could be very different from another district's version of it - and both could differ from state standards.

This year, a study by two Pennsylvania State University researchers said most districts could not show that their local assessments met state benchmarks.

The debate over graduation requirements began last year when the Board of Education and the Education Department proposed the adoption of 10 math, reading, writing, science and social studies tests that would be offered in all school districts.

Students who failed the 11th grade math and reading PSSAs would have to pass the equivalent state tests to graduate, pass a similar local test or pass the equivalent Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate tests.

Special education students would only have to meet individualized requirements set by local teams of educators and parents.

The plan faced widespread opposition from school boards and lawmakers. They said that students should not have to take more tests, and that standardized exams were poor indicators of student proficiency and students who do not do well on that kind of test would be denied a diploma. Last July, legislators shelved the plan for a year.

In March, the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, the Board of Education and the Education Department proposed a compromise: the 10 tests could be developed and used as graduation requirements, starting in 2015, but it would be up to school districts whether to give them and whether to use them for graduation requirements even if they did give them. They plan to introduce the revised proposal in July.

The three groups agreed to strengthen local graduation assessments. A committee of experts would set guidelines for them and all the assessments would be evaluated.

Yesterday, CERT also proposed a review of local graduation assessments by a committee of experts, parents, educators and students.