Parents questioning coming graduation standards

The state’s high school graduation requirements have undergone quite a makeover in the last year or so.
Earning a diploma is no longer just about grades in a report card. It’s based on a mix of three components: course work, a demonstration of proficiency – such as a portfolio or a senior project – in subject areas, and standardized test scores.
But a proposal to revise the graduation requirements further by increasing the weight of standardized testing has drawn criticism from some parents worried that a reliance on high-stakes testing could set the state’s education system back.
“There are so many concerns, so many reasons why this is a bad idea,” said Kim Bolton, a parent of a Exeter-West Greenwich High School junior and a member of the newly formed Statewide School Improvement Team Collaborative (SIT).
The parent group argues that the regulation changes under consideration by the R.I. Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education might increase an already elevated dropout rate statewide, among other things.
Collaborative members assert that the standardized tests – the New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP) – were not intended to determine whether a student should graduate. Rather, the tests were designed to measure a school’s effectiveness at meeting educational standards.
The collaborative also points to the shrinking financial resources available to support those students who test poorly. “There’s no money,” Bolton said last week. “The well is dry, as one school committee member said to me.”
And there are worries that the changes in the graduation requirements are coming too fast.
“We haven’t even seen what the fallout will be [from earlier reforms],” Bolton said.
About 100 parents and school officials from around the state gathered at Exeter-West Greenwich High School last week to drum up opposition ahead of the Sept. 3 Board of Regents meeting in which the board was expected to consider approving the proposal.
David V. Abbott, deputy commissioner and general counsel at the R.I. Department of Education (RIDE), said the opposition to changing the graduation requirements might stem from a misunderstanding.
While the SIT collaborative said the proposal calls for math and English tests given to 11th graders to count for one-third of the graduation requirements, that’s not completely accurate, Abbott said.
Yes, standardized testing would be one-third of the assessment in English and math, but a student’s performance in four other subject areas – science, technology, social studies and art – will be assessed only through course work and a proficiency demonstration.
(RIDE spokesman Elliot Krieger said the weight of the standardized science testing eventually may be increased.)
Under the existing regulations, the weight of NECAP results is capped at 10 percent of a student’s total assessment.
“Basically, [the new regulations] should not seem that much different from the system that’s in place now,” Abbott said.
The proposed regulation changes, along with the ones in place, are scheduled to become mandatory for all Rhode Island public high schools by 2012. Schools that do not meet the regulations face sanctions.
“We’re trying to give the districts time to build the systems, especially the student support systems, that they need,” Abbott said. “This isn’t a case of dumping these tests out in the field.”
Abbott indicated that the parents’ concerns about the available of resources are valid. “In this financial climate, districts will be under to pressure to dismantle some of those support systems or not build ones they need.”
At the same time, Abbott said the collaborative may not fully understand how the NECAP test would be graded. “They seem to be under the mistaken impression that you would need to score at the proficient level … in order to graduate,” he said.
Instead, the Regents are considering making the minimally acceptable score “significantly lower” than proficient.
Mary Sommer, another parent member of the SIT collaborative, said state education officials should be doing a better job of keeping parents informed.
That said, she said even a “watered-down” version of high-stakes testing could be harmful.
Bruce Marlowe agrees.
Marlowe, professor of education psychology and special education at Roger Williams University, said studies indicate that increased weight of standardized testing in graduation requirements also increases the number of students who are held back when they are scheduled to take the test the following year.
“What educators do is encourage kids to stay back, thinking they’re not ready for the test,” said Marlowe, who spoke at the SIT meeting last week. “Ultimately, lots of kids end up dropping out.”
“Even in the best interpretation of the [proposed] regulation, your performance while sitting for a two- or three-hour exam is almost equivalent to four years of high school transcripts. That’s just a bad thing.” &#8226