With time running out for thousands of Maryland high school seniors, the vice president of the State Board of Education called last week for a one-year delay in linking success on standardized tests to getting a diploma.
Blair Ewing, a longtime Montgomery County politician in his second year on the state board, joined ranks with Montgomery schools leadership in calling for the delay just days before a Tuesday meeting with State Superintendent Nancy Grasmik, an ardent supporter of the tests.
“Fundamentally, it’s a question of fairness,” Ewing said.
The graduating class of 2009 is the first that will be required to pass four tests — one each in biology, algebra, English and government — in order to earn a diploma. The debate goes to the reality of public education in the state: In many schools, a passing grade does not ensure the ability to pass the standardized test.
Students began taking the tests in 2005, depending on when they completed the corresponding courses.
This year, the board also instituted alternative projects that could be completed in place of passing the tests, as long as students passed the course.
As a result, thousands of seniors have a backlog of in-depth projects, sometimes relating to a class they took more than a year ago.
“I think the issue at present is that the extra help that students need, they’re not getting — and really couldn’t have gotten,” Ewing said, explaining that years of preparation for the tests and their effect on students had happened at the central office level, not in the classrooms.
Ewing said he has support from at least three fellow board members, but needs five to join him in voting for the delay in order to make it a reality.
The student member of the state board, D. Derek Wu, hasn’t made up his mind yet.
“We don’t have the statewide information yet” on how many students are at risk of not graduating, Wu said. That information, to be released to board members Monday, will help him make a decision, he said.
Ewing said he’s received support from teachers and parents, but has not heard from Grasmik in advance of Tuesday’s meeting.
“I know she’s busy lining up the opposition,” he said.
