Devoted Reader and prolific busybody Reginleif sent along a link to a Boston Globe article which describes the horror felt by state Education Commissioner David P. Driscoll when he discovered that - gasp! - raising the MCAS exit exam standard might mean that fewer students will graduate:
Despite pressures from business leaders to set higher standards, state Education Commissioner David P. Driscoll expressed reluctance yesterday to raise the MCAS score that high school students need to graduate, saying that such a move could result in thousands of special-education students failing. Currently, students need only to attain a score of ''needs improvement" to pass the test, but some state education board members and corporate leaders want only those who score ''proficient" to be able to graduate.
But Driscoll said the current passing score is reasonable because ''it's attainable and achievable by a lot of kids." He did not address the possibility that if the passing score were raised, many more minority students, particularly African Americans and Latinos, would also fail to graduate.
Got that? What kids know doesn't matter. What businesses want in their employers doesn't matter. What matters is that Massachusetts sets the standard so that most of their students pass it. Many people believe this exam should be an indicator that students are proficient in high school level skills. Driscoll apparently sees it as a minimum-competency exam, or an indicator that a kid is not entirely uninformed.
Many students who pass the English and math of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System still require remedial courses in those subjects once they're in college...The current standard requires students only to perform at the eighth-grade level.
Driscoll said he agrees that students need to be better prepared, but said he hopes that can be achieved through encouragement and prodding by teachers, parents, and community members, rather than a state-mandated change in the passing score.
I think teachers have had it with the prodding. What's more, why should they encourage their students to aim higher than the bar that the state has deemed sufficient?
Posted by kswygert at February 17, 2005 11:20 AM