Kelsey Volkmann, The Examiner
2007-11-01 07:00:00.0
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BALTIMORE -

Public school students must now pass the High School Assessments or complete a senior project to graduate, starting with the class of 2009, the state Board of Education decided Wednesday.

Students must pass tests in biology, algebra, government and English to graduate, the board ruled in an 8-4 vote, following a growing trend across the nation.

“For the past 50 years, nobody has had to pay the consequence for the abysmal academic performance of African-American students in Maryland, and as a result, nothing has changed,” said board President Dunbar Brooks. “I don’t want a narrowing of the achievement gap, I want an elimination,” he said.

“We’re actually going to link some grown-ups to a child’s problem.”

Twenty-six states withhold diplomas or plan to withhold them based on students’ performance on state exams, according to the Center for Education Policy.

“It’s better in the long run, but of course, no one wants to do it,” said Kim Nuzback, a junior at Long Reach High School in Columbia.

Many parents do not agree with hanging their students’ futures on a single test, said Sue Allison, a mother and director of Marylanders Against High-Stakes Testing.

“Parents do not agree with this but there’s nothing we can do about it,” she said.

Students in Maryland who pass their courses and maintain good attendance but have failed at least one test twice will be allowed to instead complete an alternative project.

Board members Rosa Garcia, Blair Ewing, Charlene Dukes and Mary Kay Finan voted against linking the assessments to graduation, arguing that not all schools have the intervention programs in place to help struggling students.

“I have a grave concern that the infrastructure and set of supports and services for students who need them are uneven and fragmented at the local level,” said Ewing, who suggested delaying the decision on tests until next year.

“There are great programs but they are not there for every student.”

But David Tufaro, another board member, called a delay “ridiculous” and suggested that Gov. Martin O’Malley had persuaded his four appointees to try to defeat the measure.

“The best teachers do not go to low-performing schools,” he said.

“How are we going to make them do that without the High School Assessments?”

The board also voted to allow students who earn a combined score of 1,602 on all four exams to graduate.

kvolkmann@baltimoreexaminer.com