We say, in this country, that we are all in favor of tough education standards, but are we really serious? Not if the recent challenge of the Ohio high school exit exams by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights (OCR) is any indication.
The Ohio exams, which are designed to make sure that all graduating seniors have at least minimum competency in reading, writing, math and citizenship, were part of an education reform package that passed in 1987. But to make sure that students and schools knew about the tests and had time to prepare for them, linking the diploma to passing the tests was deferred until this year.
Now, however, OCR is raising the issue of fairness. Their challenge is based on the fact that approximately 90 percent of white students had passed all four tests as of March 1, but only about 80 percent of African-American students had done so. (The numbers of students passing has increased to 95 percent of white seniors and 88 to 90 percent of African-American seniors since OCR issued the challenge, but the agency is continuing its investigation.)
The tests are not tough. They were designed to measure proficiencies that students are supposed to attain by the end of eighth grade. And most students did not find them hard. When OCR issued its challenge, 99 percent of all seniors, both black and white, had already passed the writing test, and 99 percent of white seniors and 98 percent of black seniors had passed the reading test. However, there was a gap of 5 percentage points between passing rates of black and white students in the citizenship test and a 15-point gap in math. OCR does not allege that the tests themselves are biased; rather, that a presumption of bias exists because minority youngsters had a higher failure rate. And their apparent explanation is that these kids were not given a fair and adequate opportunity to learn the material.
But does the fact that a student didn't learn something prove it wasn't taught -- or taught adequately? When do kids themselves become responsible for what they learn or fail to learn? The youngsters who are now looking at the possibility of not graduating have had eight chances to take and pass the tests, beginning at the end of eighth grade -- and they'll get a ninth this month. In Cleveland, where there was a big concentration of African-American students who failed early attempts to pass the exams, the school district ran remedial summer sessions. Only about 10 percent of the kids who had failed showed up at the first session. Last summer, kids who had failed were paid to come to summer school -- and the ones who did made progress, but many did not bother.
Apparently many of these kids were not very serious about attending school during the year, either. The Ohio Department of Education, in defending its exit exams, says that the kids who are in danger of not graduating missed, on average, 32 days during their junior year of high school -- that's over six weeks. A quarter of them missed 45 days, or nine weeks. How many of them would have passed if they had made it to school more regularly?
It's not clear exactly what remedy OCR will seek if it decides the allegations of bias are correct. The tests could be thrown out altogether or made optional, or linking them to graduation could be put off for several more years. The message any of these "remedies" will send to kids who didn't bother to learn the material, or even come to school, is clear: Despite all the talk of standards and getting tough, there are no consequences for failing to pass the exit exams. The kids who couldn't be bothered will get their diploma along with the rest. And the ones who failed the first or second or third time but worked hard and finally made it will get the message that they're chumps.
With the Goals 2000 legislation, the federal government made a promising start towards setting high standards for all our students and helping them meet these standards. The point of the OCR challenge seems to be that if some kids can't pass a test after seven or eight tries -- a test that an overwhelming majority of students have passed -- the schools are not yet perfect enough for us to risk standards for youngsters. This is a giant step backwards. What can we expect now? Will the federal government work to create and uphold standards or to destroy them?