Re: FairTest letter on Maryland grad test - news release and link

[aburke5054@aol.com]

You forgot to mention Finland, along with Rhode Island, Wyoming, and 
Nebraska.  Yeah, why can't Maryland be more like Finland?

Art

-----Original Message-----
From: Monty Neill <monty@fairtest.org>
To: ndsgroup@yahoogroups.com; care@yahoogroups.com; RScriticalteach 
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Sent: Mon, 29 Oct 2007 10:40 am
Subject: [arn-l] FairTest letter on Maryland grad test - news release 
and link

FairTest
National Center for Fair & Open Testing

                                                                        

for further information:
                                                                        

Dr. Monty Neill  (617) 864-4810
                                                                        

or Bob Schaeffer (239) 395-6773


for immediate release, Monday, October 29, 2007
NAT'L ASSESSMENT REFORMERS CALL ON MARYLAND BOARD OF EDUCATION
TO REJECT PROPOSALS FOR HIGH SCHOOL EXIT EXAM;
"GRADUATION TESTS HURT, NOT HELP STUDENTS, SCHOOLS AND SOCIETY"

      The country's leading assessment reform organization today called 
on the
Maryland Board of Education to reject proposals for a "one-size fits 
all" high
school exit exam. In a letter delivered to board members, the National 
Center
for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest) wrote "More than two decades of 
evidence
demonstrates that high school graduation tests are the wrong 
prescription for
what ails public education."
      The FairTest letter continued, "In fact, such requirements damage 
the very
groups proponents claim they will help. Across the county, misguided 
exit exam
mandates have increased drop-out rates, especially among minority 
groups, and
focused classroom teaching on test preparation rather than 21st Century 
skills."
     FairTest acknowledged that Maryland schools face serious problems
including gaps in educational access, quality and outcomes. It noted, 
however,
"[E]xams won't cure these ills. For too many students, the cure is 
worse than
the disease. Rather than provide better education and expanded 
opportunities,
graduation tests add punishment - denial of a diploma - to those who 
most need
help."
     The letter included data on increasing dropout rates in California 
and
diploma denials in Texas after those states adopted high school exit 
exams. It
also argued that high-stakes testing "undermines rather than improves 
education.
Untested subjects are ignored, while tested topics narrow to test 
coaching
programs."
      In Massachusetts, which Maryland exit exam proponents frequently 
cite,
dropouts increased among minority and limited English proficient 
students after
an exit exam requirement was adopted, according to statistics provided 
by
FairTest. The problem was particularly severe in low-income urban 
districts.
FairTest closely monitors the state because its headquarters is in 
Cambridge,
Massachusetts.
      As an alternative to the proposed graduation testing mandate, 
FairTest
called on Maryland to follow the lead of states such as Rhode Island, 
Wyoming
and Nebraska, which use multiple measures to award diplomas.  "Other 
states have
avoided the exit exam route specifically because they recognized the 
costs can
outweigh the benefits," the FairTest letter concluded.

- - 30 - -
  The full FairTest letter to Maryland Board of Education members is 
online at
http://www.fairtest.org/Maryland.pdf
------------------------------

Monty Neill, Ed.D.
Co-Executive Director
FairTest
342 Broadway
Cambridge, MA 02139
617-864-4810 x 101;  fax 617-497-2224
monty@fairtest.org
http://www.fairtest.org
Donate: 
https://secure.entango.com/servlet/donate/MnrXjT8MQqk-------------------------------------------------------
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