Tens of thousands of Pennsylvania high school seniors who failed state math and reading tests got "empty diplomas" last year because they had not learned basic skills, Pennsylvania Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak says.Great moments in public education.
Statewide, 45 percent of the 127,000 seniors failed the tests, leading Zahorchak to lament that diplomas were awarded to many who "show up and shut up."
Zahorchak used that statistic to push for rules that would require most of this year's sixth graders to pass either the PSSA - Pennsylvania's No Child Left Behind benchmark test - or a new set of state tests before they could graduate in 2014.
The proposed regulations are scheduled for an initial vote today by the state Board of Education. To go into effect, the rules must undergo a lengthy review, including legislative scrutiny.
Seniors are already supposed to meet state standards to graduate, but school districts do not have to prove that the students have in fact mastered the required skills. As a result, many aren't prepared when they show up for work or college, Zahorchak said.
The problem is not limited to struggling urban schools.
In the Philadelphia School District, 7,707 of 10,132 members of the 2006 graduating class failed PSSA math or reading tests as juniors.
In a quarter of the 64 Philadelphia-area Pennsylvania districts, at least 50 percent of seniors failed the tests.
Even in high-achieving districts such as Unionville-Chadds Ford and Lower Merion, slightly more than 20 percent of graduates did not pass at least one test.
In some districts, most of the students in that category are special-education students.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Receiving diplomas without skills
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports:
