The Montgomery County school board asked Maryland’s State Board of Education this week for a one-year delay before linking standardized assessment tests with a high school diploma, saying the tests are unfair.
Though the tests have been in place for years, the class of 2009 is the first that must pass them to graduate.
Montgomery’s school board cited long-standing criticisms ranging from different test standards for different graduating classes to an alternative test that is “overly complex and fraught with unresolved issues.”
If supported by the state board, led by State Superintendent Nancy Grasmick, the move would throw a lifeline to potentially thousands of at-risk students.
Gaining that support, however, is an uphill battle.
Grasmick “seems to be totally and 100 percent in denial about the issues still remaining with the test,” said Montgomery board member Pat O’Neill. “Our resolution is being sent to other local boards of education, but whether it’s timely enough for them to meet and take action, I don’t know.”
On Oct. 28, the state board will discuss the tests at its monthly meeting with a panel of superintendents, including Montgomery’s Jerry Weast.
Bill Reinhard, a spokesman for the state’s Department of Education, said Montgomery’s concern is overblown.
“Students are passing the test,” Reinhard said. “And it’s something that higher education and business and 23 school systems think is a really good idea.” The state has 24 districts.
“Concerns will dissipate,” Reinhard added, after the state releases data at the end of the month regarding the number of students who are at risk of not graduating based solely on low test scores, as opposed to poor attendance or a low grade-point average.
John Woolums, lobbyist for the Maryland Association of Boards of Education, said constructive criticism of the tests has been going on for as long as they’ve been in place, but only as the class of 2009 has approached graduation has it turned into a two-way battle.
“One of the pivotal decision points [for the state board] will be how many students are at risk of not receiving a diploma, who would otherwise receive it were it not for the tests,” Woolums said. “That will be essential information.”
