private TX schools offer TAKS-free diplomas

["Monty Neill" <monty@fairtest.org>]

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      Students who fail TAKS still get diplomas

      By Rhiannon Meyers
      The Daily News

      Published July 2, 2007

      Kellie Hill did almost everything a senior can do to prepare for graduation. Hill, who spent all her student years in La Marque public schools, passed all her courses. She even earned college credits. As graduation day approached, she bought a cap and gown in La Marque blue and gold, of course. 

      But things didn't work out as planned. 

      Hill graduated Saturday in a standing-room-only auditorium, but her diploma isn't from La Marque Independent School District. 

      Instead of her alma mater, Hill's diploma bears the name of a private school where she attended zero classes.

      Hill, like 43,000 other members of the class of 2007, failed the TAKS test. State law prohibits seniors who failed their exit level exams from receiving diplomas, and some school districts, La Marque included, prohibit those students from participating in graduation.

      Hill was devastated. She and her mother, Amy Wilson, petitioned La Marque to change the policy, but to no avail. Frustrated with the district, Hill pulled out of school, paid a month's tuition and transferred her credits to a Pearland private school.

      Texas private schools aren't regulated by the state; therefore, private school students don't have to pass the state's standardized test to get diplomas. The state doesn't track the trend, but it appears at least 100 local students have followed in Hill's footsteps, enrolling in private schools to skirt the state's graduation requirements.

      Transferring to graduate 

      Although no Galveston County private schools engage in the practice, Pearland-based Brookside Christian Academy and Alvin-based Texas Preparatory Academy are graduating a total of 127 students who transferred from public schools this year. 

      This is the first year Brookside Christian Academy accepted last-minute public school transfers who wanted to graduate. Principal Charles Miranda said he was shocked by the interest.

      About a month ago, Miranda got a phone call from a senior who had failed the TAKS test and wanted to enroll in the academy to graduate. Finding that she had sufficient credits, Miranda charged her one-month's tuition - $300 - and accepted her into the school.

      "After that, it just snowballed on us," he said.

      The phone at Brookside rings dozens of times a day with calls from seniors looking for diplomas. The academy's graduating class increased from one student in 2006 to 80 in 2007, Miranda said. 

      Texas Preparatory Academy experienced a similar sudden peak in interest. For a pro-rated tuition payment of less than $500, the academy accepted students who had earned enough credits to graduate. 

      In May, the school graduated 54 students, 43 of whom transferred in from public schools at the last minute, said Superintendent Julie Howard. The academy will hold a second graduation in August for another 23 students. 

      Miranda and Howard said a majority of the transfers came from public high schools in Galveston, Dickinson, Hitchcock, Texas City and La Marque. 

      Miranda and Howard also said some public school district registrars contacted them, asking how they could refer a student to the private school. 

      "This is the first time we've actually had public schools being so nice and working with private schools," Miranda said. 

      There's nothing illegal about the practice, said Texas Education Agency spokeswoman Suzanne Marchman. But ethical questions arise when a public school helps students who don't meet state requirements to find a diploma elsewhere, she said.

      Not a 'diploma mill' 

      Angry calls poured in when word got out that Brookside would graduate seniors who failed the TAKS test. 

      Anonymous callers accused the school of running a "diploma mill," Miranda said. He was accused of not operating a "real school," of passing out worthless diplomas, of trying to get rich off of seniors desperate to graduate, he said.

      None of that is true, Miranda said. Although the academy is not accredited - by choice, Miranda said - a Brookside diploma is as valid as a public school diploma, he said.

      The same goes for Texas Preparatory Academy, which is accredited, Howard said.

      "There are diploma mills out there that give private schools a bad name," Miranda said. "We're not a diploma mill. We're just giving them the ceremony we feel like they've worked their tail off for."

      Honor students are among those who fail TAKS. 

      Before enrolling in Brookside, Hill, the La Marque senior, earned 29 credits - eight more than she needed to graduate. The honor-roll student has 12 hours of college credit and a 3.5 grade-point average. If she had not failed the math portion of the TAKS test, Hill would have graduated in the top 20 percent of La Marque's class of 2007, she said. 

      Miranda said something is wrong with the system when a student can pass high school with honors and still fail the state's standardized exam. 

      "Public schools are failing these kids," he said. 

      The TAKS test was designed to assess how well Texas schools prepared students - it was never meant to have such high stakes for students, Howard said. 

      "Kids in public school are being taught the TAKS test, and nothing but TAKS test," she said. "You get out of high school and the TAKS test is the only thing you know and colleges don't give a damn about the TAKS test. That's why so many students are doing remedial courses in college."

      Miranda and Howard said they think students who earn all their high school credits deserve a graduation, and they aim to provide them with one.

      All the way to No. 1

      In May, Hill attended La Marque's graduation. She cheered her friends and didn't cry until after the ceremony.

      "I stayed strong throughout the whole graduation ceremony," Hill said. "I'm happy and proud of my friends. They worked hard and deserved it. I just feel like I did, too."

      In mid-July, Texas public schools will offer seniors the opportunity to retake the TAKS test to earn diplomas before the end of the summer. 

      It's not clear how many will show up for the re-test, but it's clear who won't be there. Hill took TAKS three times, and refused to take it again.

      "I don't want to be let down again," she said. "I don't want to go through all the tutoring I went through again, all the late hours. I don't want to go through another heartbreak again, by another one or two questions."

      By transferring to Brookside and paying $300, she vaulted from the top 20 percent of her class - all the way to No. 1. 


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      Copyright © 2007 The Galveston County Daily News
     





Monty Neill, Ed.D.
Co-Executive Director
FairTest
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