Group fights ‘high stakes test,’ says kids will suffer

Posted 2/28/13

Based on the scores from the NECAP tests taken in October, a coalition supporting the elimination of high stakes tests predicted Tuesday that two in five Warwick juniors are at risk of not receiving …

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Group fights ‘high stakes test,’ says kids will suffer

Posted

Based on the scores from the NECAP tests taken in October, a coalition supporting the elimination of high stakes tests predicted Tuesday that two in five Warwick juniors are at risk of not receiving a high school diploma come graduation in 2014.

Statewide, the group estimates two in five juniors, a total of 4,200 are in jeopardy of not graduating.

Gathered outside Pilgrim High School, chosen because it is not an inner-city school, the group staged a press conference as buses and parents arrived in anticipation of the school closing. The group’s aim was to bring attention to a “crisis” – thought to be only a problem in Providence and other inner-city schools – and to focus attention on legislation introduced by Warwick Representative Eileen Naughton to eliminate high stakes testing to determine access to a diploma. The bill was slated to come before the House Health, Education and Welfare Committee on Wednesday.

“The news of these scores across Rhode Island is sad. It is very scary for students, parents and our society, but it is not at all surprising,” said Rick Richards, a retired employee of the Rhode Island Department of Education’s (RIDE) Offices of Testing, School Improvement and School Transformation. “With 40 percent of the 11th graders in danger of not graduating, every parent in this state has to know that this way of determining graduation can put their child in danger. And, as parents think this over, they should realize that, in a very real sense, this is a crisis manufactured by policy makers at RIDE.”

The coalition includes the Rhode Island ACLU, RI Legal Services, Young Voices and the RI Disability Law Center, Providence Student Union, and Children’s Policy Coalition, among others. Noticeably absent were any representatives from city and town school committees and school administrations.

“They ought to be concerned,” Steve Brown of the RIACLU said. “They’re faced with a big problem.”

Deborah Gist, commissioner of education, concurs there is a problem and in particular with the math scores on the NECAP tests. But she doesn’t believe NECAP is a high stakes test that determines whether a student will graduate. She said the system provides opportunities for students to meet minimum benchmarks and if they are able to achieve that growth, to make their diploma and graduate with their class.

She agrees more than 4,000 high school juniors statewide are in jeopardy of not receiving a diploma, largely because of their math skills.

“We do have students who don’t have fundamental math scores,” she said. Gist added that graduates “are going to need at least this level of skill” in order to advance their education or obtain jobs.

Gist believes the leadership in the House and Senate “sees this not as a testing problem, but a math problem.”

However, if the legislation passes, she added, “I think it would put us back many years.”

“RIDE adopted a graduation policy based in political ideology, not evidence. Unfortunately, RIDE’s decision to adapt an unproven policy puts the class of 2014 center stage in an experiment that will, in many, many cases, be life changing. And, in all too many cases, this experiment will be devastating,” said Richards. Asked what he would suggest if test scores were not to be used in determining graduation, Richards said he would favor creating a “value added diploma” where a student’s ability in a given field – nursing was the example he gave – would be noted. He also said he would work to make sure school assessments are accurate and that the approach to determining whether a student is ready to graduate should be holistic.

“RIDE’s policy is creating an entirely new category of adults who, due to an arbitrary score on a test, will not have a high school diploma with which to get a job or continue on in their higher education. Sadly, many will be forced to carry this stigma undeserved,” Richards said.

“Unlike RIDE, we do not believe Rhode Island’s education system has failed 40 percent of its students. This is about students who, for example, have particular learning disabilities or anxieties that prevent them from performing adequately on the test,” Brown said.

“More importantly, it is about denying diplomas to students using a test never meant to be used in this way. The thought of the fate that awaits many of these students is unfathomable. Unless this is stopped, RIDE’s implementation of high stakes testing will unfairly change the course of these students’ lives and prevent them from showing their true potential,” he said.

Gist sees the community responding to the issue faced by so many junior high school students.

In the more than three years she has been in Rhode Island, she said she has not seen the same level of concern.

“I’m seeing a very serious effort to rally around our students and that’s the kind of reaction we need,” she said.

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  • JohnStark

    RI continues to have the second least educated adult population in New England. And when the state takes the horrifyingly draconian step to ensure literacy amongst it's high school graduates, all the usual suspects line up to scream "crisis". And not a "crisis" that we have so many illiterate kids, but rather a "crisis" that we're testing them in the first place! What is abundantly clear is that the NECAP does, indeed, discriminate. It discriminates between literate/employable kids and those that are illiterate and unemployable. Between a confiscatory tax structure and an under-educated work force, is it any wonder why corporations avoid RI like the plague?

    Thursday, February 28, 2013 Report this

  • Justanidiot

    eye wished eyes cud reads dis article but i got lernt in rode islamnd

    Thursday, February 28, 2013 Report this