State superintendent proposes delays to graduation requirements
November 25, 2009
By Chantelle Lusebrink
The debate about math and science graduation requirements is heating up again.
As this year’s ninth-grade students gear up to pass the new High School Proficiency Exams as part of their graduation requirements in 2013, State Superintendent Randy Dorn is asking the state Legislature to postpone math and science requirements again.
Gov. Chris Gregoire delayed the mathematics graduation requirement in the face of low student scores on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning exams in December 2006. The science graduation requirement was delayed in May 2007.
Dorn’s recommendation moves requiring students to pass the mathematics and science exams from 2013 until 2015 and 2017, respectively.
In a news release, he said he made the recommendation Nov. 19 after seeing students’ final achievement rates on last spring’s final WASL exams.
“It doesn’t take a mathematician to see that we have a big problem in our state. Less than 50 percent of our 10th-graders are passing the math and science exams,” Dorn said, noting 10th-graders’ passing rates on the reading and writing exams is more than 80 percent. “We need to be fair to our students and give them time to learn the new standards. It’s simply a matter of doing what’s right.”
Additionally, Dorn said the new math and science standards for the High School Proficiency Exams are only now being implemented and won’t be assessed until 2011. Because of this, he said it doesn’t provide enough time for the class of 2013 to learn the standards, or for teachers and schools to align the curriculum and materials to them.
“It’s hard to say much until we have a chance to learn more about the specifics of what his proposal is,” said Snoqualmie Valley School District Superintendent Joel Aune. “For me, this isn’t the first time that the standards in major areas of assessment have changed mid-stream.
“I can see Superintendent Randy Dorn’s concern for fairness to students and really, in some respects, to schools,” he added. “We’ve seen it before. Once we adopt new standards, we’re in a position to make the necessary changes. Some of those can be major and students can get caught in the middle.”
In the proposal for the math graduation requirement, Dorn said he would ask the 2010 Legislature to continue the current requirement of either passing the state math exam or earning two additional credits of math after 10th grade for students up to the class of 2014.
He will also ask the Legislature to establish a two-tier bar for the math graduation requirement beginning with the class of 2015, according to Dorn’s Web site.
The first of the two bars is “Proficient,” which means they passed the state exam. The second tier is “Basic,” which means students passed the basic levels of the exam, but would still need to earn a fourth credit in math to graduate with a diploma. Requiring the fourth credit in math means that students will continue to build on their math skills.
Dorn’s idea stems from the two-tier Massachusetts system, which he said would maintain the state’s high standards, but helps set a realistic bar for passing students.
However, the recommendation was not met with resounding support from educational groups or the governor.
“I oppose the proposal,” Gregoire said in a press release. “As our state and global economies become more technically driven, we need to ensure that our students leave high school highly-trained in math and science, so they can qualify for Washington state jobs or entry into training and higher-education programs of their choosing.
“Our students are capable of mastering our state’s standards in math and science,” she added. “They have shown us their capacity to meet our expectations in the past.”
Similarly, education advocates at the Washington State Board of Education also said a delay only postpones students’ ability to become proficient in math and science, and could prohibit them from obtaining the state’s best jobs in those fields.
“This call for delay is not the right direction for our state,” Mary Jean Ryan, chair of the Washington State Board of Education, said in a press release. “State leaders must commit — once and for all — to doing the hard work needed to help kids master math and science. Delays just create distractions. If history is a guide, more delay will only serve to distract. Three years ago, the state punted on math and since then, achievement levels have dropped. Delay is not a winning game plan. There is much work to do, but this is not the way to begin.”
Whatever happens, Aune said he would like more time to look at the proposal and to see what discussion comes from it.
“I think this proposal will do exactly what we need to do, have a long, in-depth conversation around the issues,” he said. “I think that is the part that is healthy and positive, because this is not a decision to be taken lightly, because the kids are in the middle. They are the ones that benefit or suffer depending on the outcome.
“The other piece of this is to have the conversation during a time of unprecedented financial problems in the K through 12th education system,” he added. “My only hope is that wherever we land on this, in terms of a final decision, is that it is fair to the kids.”
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