http://www.ctredpol.org/highschoolexit/

The Center on Education Policy's latest report on the consequences of high-stakes school graduation tests, examining one district each in Virginia and Maryland, provides important  evidence on the extensive educational harm caused by the tests, particularly in Virginia. How Have High School Exit Exams Changed Our Schools relied on interviews and focus groups with students, teachers and administrators.

Virginia has used its Standards of Learning (SOL) tests as a graduation requirement starting with the class of 2004. Students must pass two tests in English and any four of ten exams in math, science and history/social science. While the state claims that about 95% of the class of 2004 passed, in fact independent studies show Virginias' real graduation rate to be around 70%.

The tests are all multiple-choice, other than one write-to-a-prompt exam. According to the report, "many" educators excoriated the exams on multiple grounds, focusing on unfairness, narrowing the curriculum, and wasting lots of time on test prep and on fulfilling the requirements of the testing  bureaucracy. Overall, said the report, "positive statements [about the SOLs] were limited and many teachers expressed only concerns."

One student summed up the curriculum concern by saying, "Why do we learn it? Because it's on the SOL. Why do we teach it? Because it's on the SOL."

Defenders of the tests often ask, What's wrong with teaching to the test? Virginia students and educators repeatedly pointed out that the SOLs are not an adequate measure of student learning, and by dominating the curriculum they teaching and learning down to what can be measured by fact-focused multiple-choice items. Students explained that they had to "memorize facts all the time."

"We are not coming up with critical thinkers anymore," said one teacher. Another noted, "In science and social studies, we are teaching minutiae." Many English teachers thought the writing tests were "a dumbing down."

Teachers do teach to the test, crafting their own exams to mimic the SOLs. They spend less time on labs and in hands-on instruction. "We don't do proofs in geometry anymore because they are not on the test," explained a math teacher. Teacher statements indicated they were caught having to choose between two damaging options – undermining the curriculum or not helping students pass the exams; but given that choice, they would help the students pass.

On fairness, teachers reported leaving students behind in order to maintain the pace dictated by the exams. Students criticized the quality of remediation available. Some students noted "friends who had dropped out at least partly due to the SOLs." Students recognized that "not everyone tests well."

"We are accountants, now," observed a counselor, "keeping track of credits and test scores rather than building relationships with students and helping them plan for life after high schools." Another added that "we have gone from being guidance counselors to being paper pushers." Overall, school culture and climate were reported to have worsened.

Principals, said the report, had far more negatives than positives to say about the SOLs. Administrators were concerned about the bureaucratic time consumed by the tests, while teachers noted they had to document all they did to prove they were properly focused on the tests. And teachers reported both weeks and weeks of test-prep time (in addition to changes made during regular instruction," and then that once the tests were over students were so burnt out little learning occurred for the rest of the year.

Maryland

The Maryland situation appeared different. Educators viewed the tests as less of an external imposition, having been more involved in their development than in Virginia. The tests include short and longer open-response items, not just multiple-choice. And perhaps most critically, they are not yet required for graduation and are only this year beginning to be used for NCLB. Thus, the negative effects detailed by Virginia students and educators may yet surface.

Whether the use of different sorts of items will make a longer-term difference remains to be seen. Both Massachusetts and New York utilize similar exams, but in both states educators have frequently criticized the quality of the tests and their harmful impact on teaching and learning, as well as the unfairness of making high-stakes decisions based solely on a test score.

Even within a more supportive environment, Maryland educators noted important problems. English teachers worried that "larger writing assignments will go away since shorter things are emphasized." To this point, most educators in this district said the exams had not taken over their classrooms. Problems, however, were noted in biology and social studies, which were crammed with too much detail, leading to less depth in instruction and teachers being unable to slow down to meet the needs of all students.

-- www.cep.org

http://www.ctredpol.org/highschoolexit/