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November 8, 2007
Stakeholders Debate High School Graduation Tests
This fall the PA State Board of Education is continuing to evaluate whether they should require that students pass a series of standardized tests in order to earn a high school diploma. After a series of stakeholder public round tables this summer, the Board has amended some of its original recommendations.
The debate centers on whether to require these “high stakes” graduation exams before inequities and lack of resources in many of PA’s schools are addressed. Incidentally, private school and home schooled students are exempt from this requirement.
The Case for High Stakes Testing
While standardized graduation testing has occurred in PA’s public schools for the last few years, the testing has not been uniform from school to school. The Governor’s Commission on College and Career Success studied this issue and concluded that PA’s current educational standards do not ensure that students will be job-ready and competitive in our 21st century economy. The Commission recommended uniform graduation testing. Students who do not pass the tests would not receive a diploma.
For students at risk of not passing graduation testing, the Commission recommends that school districts work to develop intervention models that are grounded in best practices, but are tailored to the individual needs of their students, families, and communities.
The Case for Equal Educational Opportunity
Many stakeholders at the Board of Education roundtables were concerned that it is unfair to students to require graduation testing before Pennsylvania has addressed funding and educational inequalities in our schools. For students to do well, schools must provide individualized child centered instruction, small classrooms, mentoring and resources for teachers and families, and healthy and safe school climates. Schools in economically challenged communities are not able to provide the same level of academic opportunity as other schools with ample funding.
The Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) has developed an informational paper on drawbacks to graduation exit exams, citing research that these tests actually hurt children, especially low-income, minority and disabled youth.
Pennsylvania’s professional education associations, the Pennsylvania State Educator’s Association (PSEA), Pennsylvania School Board Association (PSBA), and the Pennsylvania School Administrators Association (PSAA) have all expressed concerns about the inequity of denying diplomas to students who attend schools with insufficient funding and resources, because they do not pass their exit exams.