One exam, fewer ways to try again

Trenton High School was not an easy place for John Lassiter. The 17-year-old says he felt lost and unsupported.

"When I had a question, my math teacher told me to put my head down on my desk," he recalls.

The teen dropped out during his sophomore year and registered instead at the Daylight/Twilight High School, a nontraditional program in Trenton, aimed at helping dropouts get back into the system.

Today John's story appears to be moving toward a happy ending. Now a senior, he plans to graduate and hopes to attend college in the fall.

"I like this school," he says. "The teachers here will help you."

But passing his remaining classes will not be enough to get a diploma. To graduate, John, like all public school students in the state, must pass a test.

Currently 19 states require diploma-seeking seniors to take a so-called exit exam. Five more states will have exams in place by 2008, meaning that nearly 70 percent of all public school students will take such exams as a graduation requirement. These tests are meant to demonstrate that every graduate displays adequate skills in math, reading, and writing.

Their advocates say they add value to a diploma by ensuring that it means something.

But their detractors worry that the new focus on more rigorous testing will ultimately hurt students like John - students who may need a second chance if they are to be prevented from completely dropping out of the system.

New Jersey has had a state test, the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA), in place since 1983. But for students who fail the HSPA, there has always been a safety net. The special review assessment (SRA) gives them the opportunity to retake the parts of the HSPA they did not pass.

In the case of a student like John - who failed the HSPA by a few points last spring - the SRA offers a chance to keep himself on track toward higher education. Otherwise, his options would be few. The HSPA is offered only annually, and cannot be taken again after a student finishes all credits.

But the SRA may be on the way out. William Librera, commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Education, recently submitted a recommendation to the school board to eliminate the SRA.

The situation in New Jersey highlights one of the problems posed by exit exams: What to do with those who fail them?

Some states offer a "certificate of completion" in lieu of a diploma; others have lowered passing scores; and still others offer alternative exams. But in the case of New Jersey, Commissioner Librera says the SRA is undermining educational standards.

Too many students are now slipping past the more rigorous state test by taking the SRA, says Librera. Most of them, he insists, are not special-education students for whom the test was intended. Many are instead students seeking to sidestep the more comprehensive state test.

Such tests are an integral part of the Bush administration's No Child Left Behind Act, which requires that all states give exams by 2006. Though states are not required to make these tests "high-stakes exams" (exams required for graduation), most are choosing to do so.

To encourage improvement under the system, states reward schools that boost test scores with bonuses for administrators and money for equipment and books.

But for the system to work, argue some educators, it's important to close loopholes that might allow some students to attain diplomas without the same rigorous exams their peers are taking. That's why some New Jersey officials - as well as officials in some other states with alternative tests - want to do away with exams like the SRA.

"It's important to see a high school diploma as evidence that students have crossed a certain barrier," says Kathleen Porter, associate director for the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, an education research and policy institute in Washington. "We should do what we can to help students reach that level, but we shouldn't just award a diploma to them to make them feel better."

States hope the tests will make all diplomas meaningful in the eyes of colleges and employers. They insist that to grant diplomas based on different standards is inconsistent at best - and perhaps illegal at worst.

"We're graduating kids that may have done the seat time, but might not have cracked a book or raised their head up off the desk," says Kathy Christie, vice president for the Education Commission of the States in Denver. "Lots of people are worried about failure rates ... but you have to make sure kids have access to the same curriculum. If they don't, that's a legal problem."

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