Testimony in Support of SB 475 Task Force on the Policy and Funding Implications of Requiring Passage of the High School Assessment for Graduation
Senate Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs Committee
March 7, 2007
Diana Saquella
Manager of Government Relations
As a representative of the Maryland State Teachers Association, I wish to express our support for Senate Bill 475, which establishes a task force to address the problems associated with requiring all students to pass one test in order to graduate from high school. Our association is philosophically opposed to a single measurement for assessing student achievement, but there are practical problems with the requirement as well.
As educators, we believe in testing and in high standards for learning. We also know that not all students learn in the same way and take the same length of time to learn the same material. We know that there are multiple factors that influence student achievement, and that one test neither accounts for the other influencing factors nor measures all areas where a student can and does achieve.
No one test can accurately reflect a student's success. As a Virginia superintendent recently said, It's puzzling why the problem is so hard to understand. It's common sense that not all students can pass the same test. His concern was for the English speakers of other languages, but we have a concern for the special education students as well. It makes no sense to hold a special education student accountable on a three-hour test. It is then a test of endurance, not achievement.
We are concerned that the State will see a rise in the dropout rate. Students who are struggling and doing their best that take the test and fail could be discouraged enough to drop out of school to avoid facing failure again.
There are logistical issues with the HSA's as well. The tests are administered in the spring, but results are not sent to the schools until mid-August. If a student receives a failing score, he or she must receive remediation. By the time the scores get to the schools, schedules are set, so school personnel need to quickly reschedule the students and classes.
A second issue is students who move. Families are very mobile and transient. When a students moves to a new school, his records are supposed to be sent immediately. Because the HSA scores do not come to the first school until late, the second school does not know if the student has even taken the test, much less passed it.
As you deliberate this bill, we encourage the committee to consider the effect the HSA requirement will have on students, teachers, parents and schools in June 2009. The members of the proposed task force, we believe, have the expertise to find a solution to the problem. We urge a favorable report.
