A graduation safety net for Maryland seniors unable to pass tests required for a diploma likely will be extended for up to four more years.
The safety net — used most often in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties — comes in the form of a waiver excusing students from passing the graduation exams in biology, algebra, government and English, or from completing an extensive project in the subject areas. Its extension was proposed by the State Board of Education in late January.
“The waiver will allow students to graduate on time when their failure to satisfy the requirement is due to no fault of their own,” but to issues such as a lack of time or proper remediation for special needs students and non-English speakers, according to the board’s proposal.
But some worry that the extension of waivers would give schools an excuse not to go to all lengths to educate the most struggling students.
“To simply say, ‘We’ll graduate you because we haven’t educated you’ doesn’t seem like a real pathway,” said Montgomery school board member Laura Berthiaume. “It seems like a potential crack for kids to fall through.”
Berthiaume gave high marks to the project option for students troubled by traditional tests, but allowed that the projects require extensive time and school resources.
The exams, called HSAs, became a graduation requirement for the first time for the class of 2009. Despite outcry from some local officials worried graduation rates would plummet, the state board defended the tests as ensuring the integrity of a Maryland diploma.
Montgomery and Prince George’s counties awarded more waivers to students in 2009 than any place in the state, save for Baltimore. Together, the two suburban jurisdictions let pass nearly 330 students, or 62 percent of the state’s 531 waiver graduates.
The majority of those students were labeled with special needs. In Montgomery County, 6 percent of special education graduates used a waiver, with 19 percent of graduates with limited English skills. In Prince George’s, 19 percent of special education graduates used a waiver, with 22 percent of those with limited English.
Bill Reinhard, spokesman for the State Department of Education, said maintaining the waiver as an option in extreme cases is “fair to students,” and especially recent immigrants.
“We don’t expect to give out nearly as many waivers this year,” he said.
