Kelsey Volkmann, The Examiner
2007-10-30 07:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked

BALTIMORE -

Thousands of students statewide could be denied diplomas for failing the High School Assessments, depending on what state education officials decide this week.

Students, parents and community leaders remain divided about whether to make exams in algebra, government, biology and English a graduation requirement starting with the class of 2009 and whether to allow students who achieve good grades but fail the assessments to complete an alternative project.

“If the project is something that can separate people who really want to pass the test and those who just don’t focus, I support it,” said James Steven Jr., a student at Milford Mill Academy in Baltimore County.

“Some people can’t take tests. They look at a test and go blank.”

At a recent forum on education he hosted for parents, Del. Emmett Burns Jr., D-Baltimore County, threw his support behind the alternative project, officially called the Bridge Plan for Academic Validation.

“We can keep the door from being closed before it’s opened,” he said.

But some student advocates and parents say the project doesn’t help the wide variety of learners.

“I think it’s an easier pass for superintendents and school boards to skirt the problems” of failing children, said Lisa White, a mother from Randallstown.

The state should allow more students with disabilities to take modified assessments designed for slower-paced learners, said Leslie Seid Margolis, a managing attorney at the Maryland Disability Law Center.

“The state needs to make sure there are multiple options for [youth] with disabilities and have multiple ways for them to obtain a diploma,” she said.

Margolis participated in a task force that suggested the state also allow test waivers for students who are disabled or know limited English. Otherwise, she said, the drop-out rate could skyrocket.

“Across the county, misguided exit exam mandates have increased drop-out rates, especially among minority groups, and focused classroom teaching on test preparation rather than 21st century skills,” wrote Monty Neill, co-executive director of The National Center for Fair and Open Testing, in a letter to the Maryland Board of Education on Monday.

Test critics filed lawsuits in other states with high school exit exams, including Oregon, Alaska and Massachusetts, arguing that students weren’t given enough time and resources to prepare.

kvolkmann@baltimoreexaminer.com