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

["GERALD BRACEY" <gbracey1@verizon.net>]

Maybe because Finland is about the size of greater Baltimore, about as 
heterogeneous as the western small towns in MD (all white), and a beacon 
that while the Soviet Union is dead, socialism can be successful.



----- Original Message ----- 
From: <aburke5054@aol.com>
To: <arn-l@interversity.org>
Sent: Monday, October 29, 2007 8:03 PM
Subject: Re: [arn-l] FairTest letter on Maryland grad test - news release 
and link


> 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 
> <RScriticalteach@lists.execpc.com>; ARN-state@yahoogroups.com; ARN-L 
> <arn-l@interversity.org>; arn2-strategy <arn2-strategy@yahoogroups.com>
> 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
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