While the state is busy celebrating its claim that only about 6% of high school seniors, i.e., the Class of 2004, will fail to graduate for failure to pass SOL tests, keep in mind that this estimate represents only the percentage who stuck it out until graduation day, passing all required courses, only to be denied diplomas because they didn't pass one or more.
Here are some other facts you should know:
1. Four years ago, there were 98,062 9th graders in the class of 2004. By
September 30, 2003, the start of their senior year, there were only 76,004 still
in public school. This represents an overall loss of 22.5% of the Class of 2004.
2. African-American students had the even more striking loss of 34% as of September 30, 2003. That is, from a 9th grade class of 27,491 students, there were only 18,154 African-American students left by last September.
That's an attrition rate of 34%, a rise of almost 4% over last year. For a closer look at how the numbers of African-American students have decreased, click here .3. Project Graduation, which reports the number of seniors in schools on June
1, 2004 (just before graduation), has reported that there are 74,275 seniors
(down from 98,062 as a freshmen cohort). Of these, 6.1% (4,501 students) were at
risk of not graduating due to failure to pass the required SOLs.
4. The percentage of students in special education receiving second-class
diplomas (IEP or Modified Standard diplomas) has more than doubled since 1999.
(As you may recall, the VA Board of Education significantly lowered the cut
scores for the 8th grade reading and math SOL tests, the ones required for a
Modified Standard Diploma).
5. Almost half of the students with disabilities in the class of 2004 were
routed off the Standard or Advanced Diploma path. Of the 9,856 students with
disabilities in the class of 2004 who were juniors last year (2002-3003), only
5,639 of them took the 11th grade English SOL tests required for graduation with
a Standard or Advanced Diploma. Only 31% of these students had passed the test
by the end of their junior year, though re-testing may yield more passers by the
end of this school year or summer.
6. Looking at individual school divisions, it becomes apparent that students in some divisions fared worse than in others. Some school divisions have reported over 45% of the original group of students who entered in 9th grade were gone by the time graduation arrived. (This is based on Project Graduation projected graduation numbers as of June 1, 2004.) For a closer look at how students in individual school divisions have fared, click here.
7. Finally, the public needs to be aware of the various adjustments made to the SOL testing program. These adjustments were made, we believe, to ensure that the number of graduates were high and the public relations problems were low. The state has, thus far, not reported on the effects or use of these adjustments and how they have affected graduation rates. These adjustments include lowering cut scores and changing tests, primarily in history; adding substitute tests and setting the cut scores for those tests fairly low (Work Keys is one such test. Students can substitute a "3" on this test for the 11th grade Writing SOL test. In Work Keys, students listen to a narrative and then write down the information they hear in order to explain it to someone else ; and adding a "locally awarded verified credit" option which allows school divisions to assess a student's work over time and grant a credit (the student must first fail twice and score between 375 and 399 on one of those failures)
Of course, the real question is how will our children fare as they enter college, the workforce, and the future. Will Virginia's high stakes testing policies pay off or have they shortchanged our children?