Despite Focus on Data, Standards for Diploma May Still Lack Rigor
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The next time people try to tell you how much the data-driven education reform programs of President George W. Bush (No Child Left Behind) and President Obama (Race to the Top) have raised academic standards in America, suggest that they take a look at the Jan. 24, 2012, New York State English Regents exam.
This year, for the first time, high schools students must score at least 65 on the English exam, as well as on four other state tests -- math, science, global history and United States history -- to earn a diploma.
The three-hour English test includes 25 multiple choice questions; one essay; and two short responses that are each supposed to be a paragraph long. A short response is scored 0 to 2 points. A student who gets 1's on both responses has a pretty good shot at scoring 65 and passing the exam.
Here, from the state teachers' scoring guide, is an excerpt from a short response written by an unnamed student. The guide says it deserves a score of 1:
These two Charater have very different mind Sets because they are creative in away that no one would imagen just put clay together and using leaves to create Art.
Theoretically, passing the English Regents would mean that a student could read and write.
Here is the topic sentence of another student's short response that, according to the state guide, also deserves a 1:
In the poem, the poets use of language was very depth into it.
Until recently there were two main graduation options in New York. Students could earn a Regents-endorsed diploma by passing several state exams, or they could earn a local diploma. But the two-tier system has been phased out. No longer will there be a local diploma option.
New York's last three education commissioners, all leaders in the reform movement, have been suspicious of assessment instruments that rely too heavily on people who work in schools.
State officials have instead chosen to use one English test to assess every high school student in the state, which has caused another fairly gigantic problem: How do you create a single graduation exam for 200,000 seniors when some are heading to the Ivy League and others to pump gas?
First Published February 6, 2012 12:00 am
