Grad test: details fuzzy, but it's not all-or-nothing

School administrators await interpretation of legislation

By Phil Pfuehler

By 2002, high school seniors will need to take a graduation test. However, the test will just be one of three criteria to determine graduate qualifications.

When the test was proposed earlier this year, the idea was that students would have to pass in order to graduate. But public reaction forced state lawmakers to scale back the weight of the test.

River Falls Superintendent Sarah Noonan is still waiting for the state's Department of Public Instruction to say exactly how much the test will count and when it will be given.

With so many other academic checkpoints, Noonan questions the need for every student to take a graduation test.

"Since it funds public education, the state is perfectly within its rights to ask schools to hit benchmarks that are established," Noonan said. "But at the same time, the state should be willing to consider equivalent forms of measuring whether students have met rigorous academic standards."

Noonan said Iowa, ACT, PSAT, and other regular tests already give schools an accurate measure of student achievement. If students pass those tests, she wonders, do they really need to take a final graduation test?

"You can measure achievement in many ways," Noonan said. "If the state would consider some testing alternatives, then not everyone would have to take the test."

High school principal Sharon Kabes is pleased the test is not the sole basis determining graduation.

"A one-time test is probably not good," she said. "We were concerned about placing all your eggs in one basket with a high-stakes test. It's better to look at several factors instead of just one day in a student's life. This approach for the test seems more balanced."

Kabes said state standards are now being added to the school district's curriculum. With the addition of such standards, she said grades become an accurate measure of achievement.

Between the barrage of tests and curriculum-based standards, Kabes said, "These all give strong indications of how students are doing, which is really important. We have an ongoing way to assess students."

Kabes said she doesn't know yet how difficult the graduation test will be or how much it will count toward graduation.

"We still aren't sure if it will be a test for minimum basic skills (comparable to a 9th grade level) or a high-expectations test at the 12th grade level," Kabes said.

She said Minnesota's recently approved high school graduation test is closer to a basic-skills test.