Legislature(2009 - 2010)BELTZ 211
03/16/2009 08:00 AM Senate EDUCATION
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB109 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| *+ | SB 109 | TELECONFERENCED | |
SB 109-REPEAL SECONDARY SCHOOL EXIT EXAM
8:07:09 AM
CHAIR DAVIS announced consideration of SB 109. She said this
bill was requested by the Board of Education because it wanted
the legislature to reconsider the usefulness of this test.
TOM OBERMEYER, staff to Senator Davis, sponsor of SB 109,
explained the bill as follows:
SB 109 repeals the secondary student competency exam,
also known as the High School Graduation Qualifying
Exam (HSGQE) or "Exit" exam. The HSGQE was initiated
in 2001 and became fully effective in 2004, following
the trend for more assessment in the "No Child Left
Behind Act" of 2001. It was never clear that the
HSGQE would improve performance and measure whether
students would be better prepared for college, much
less determine conclusively that students were
receiving diplomas but lacking basic skills. The Exit
Exam has become a "high stakes" hurtle that has harmed
many students in Alaska while exacerbating a court
finding in 2007 that the State was violating students'
constitutional rights to an education without
providing proper assistance and direction. (See Moore,
et al. v. State of Alaska, 3AN04-9756).
It may be argued that the state does not need the
HSGQE, and the state and all school districts already
require many assessment tests to determine student
progress and competency. At the same time there is a
trend away from exit exams. The Center on Education
Policy (CEP) report in August of 2008 reported that
most states are moving toward end-of-course exams
which assess mastery of content of a specific high
school course in lieu of exit exams. The current
Alaska HSGQE reportedly has been changed by the Board
of Education and made less difficult than at
inception. As a result, the exam has become somewhat
redundant, time-consuming, and expensive to
administer. To save time and money beginning in the
spring of 2006 sophomores took a test that combined
the HSGQE with a standards-based reading and math
assessment test required by the federal No Child Left
Behind Act (NCLB). Although the students took only one
exam, some questions accounted for one or the other or
both exams to satisfy state requirements. I refer you
to a legislative report in 06.233 in 2006, "History
Results In Cost of the High School Graduation
Qualifying Exam." The exam reportedly has detracted
from the standard curriculum and also has promoted
"teaching to the test."
The department reported in 2007 that over 1,100
students statewide failed to pass the HSGQE after five
opportunities, while 8,524 passed. (See Moore,
[supra, exhibit 2514, p. 13 of 58,] "Findings of Fact,
Conclusions of Law".) These numbers excluded all
students who had dropped out or transferred to another
school before passing. The court, in Moore,
determined that the State was violating the
substantive due process rights of students by denying
high school diplomas to students in chronically
underperforming school districts. Students were
failing the High School Graduation Qualifying Exam,
while the state was failing to provide the oversight,
assistance and direction with clear standards to guide
districts attempting to meet content and performance
standards.
As a result, the court concluded that the Department
was ultimately failing to "maintain a system of public
schools" as required under the Alaska Constitution,
Article VII, Section 1. Finding insufficient proof of
compliance with its 2007 order, the court, in Moore,
on February 4, 2009, gave the department 60 days to
establish compliance with its constitutional duties
and to file with the court 'revised district
intervention plans that address and incorporate as
appropriate remedial measures related to each of the
problem areas identified in these Findings.'
Alaska's experience with the high school exit exams is
not new but it's widespread. Fearful that hundreds of
thousands of students would be left behind by one set
of standardized, time-pressured tests in New York, an
article appeared in the New York Times headed 'Albany
Legislators Seek to Dilute New Tougher Graduation
Exams.' It was stated in the article that "an unusual
bi-partisan coalition of state lawmakers whose
constituents range from inner city residents to
affluent suburbanites is pushing the scale back of new
more stringent graduation requirements for nearly all
public high school students" (New York Times, May
1999).
The Center on Education Policy (CEP) reported in
August, 2008, that in the 2007-2008 school year 23
states required students to take and pass exit exams
to receive a high school diploma. Three more states -
Arkansas, Maryland, and Oklahoma - will begin
withholding diplomas within the next few years,
leading to a total of 26 states with such policies by
2012. Additionally, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and
Oregon are considering exit exams, but Oregon and
Pennsylvania are opting to use multiple measures. The
CEP reported that 68 percent of the nation's public
high school students attend school in the 23 states
with such policies. By 2012 approximately 75 percent
of the nation's public high school students will be
affected, including 84 percent of low income students
and students of color.
The Center on Education Policy recommends more funding
should be allocated to research aimed at better
understanding the impact of exit exams, considering
the vast number of students affected by state-mandated
high school exit exams. State governments, the CEP
reports, should move immediately to collect and
release data on final passage rates on these and the
rate of students using alternative paths to
graduation. As they implement more end-of-course
exams, the CEP recommends that states address the need
for greater rigor in the content of their exams and
provide for greater coordination of high school
requirements with college preparedness and work
readiness demands. While dropping the high school
graduation qualifying exam does not remedy underlying
problems in delivering quality education in
underperforming districts already identified by other
assessments, it does remove the risk that a student
can be denied a diploma after 12 years of education by
one exam. Eliminating the high school graduation
qualifying exam may also encourage youth to stay in
school long enough to get a diploma and reduce the
dropout rate. After complying with court ordered
requirements in Moore, and perhaps after more
experience with other ongoing assessments, the
department and Board of Education may better determine
whether an exit exam or High School Graduation
Qualifying Exam is in the best interests of the state,
recognizing that more states seem to be moving away
from exit exams toward end of course exams.
8:15:05 AM
SENATOR STEVENS asked Mr. Obermeyer if he is saying that the
exit exam is so onerous that it should be eliminated. He thought
the idea was to improve things.
CHAIR DAVIS pointed out that the Board of Education asked that
the exit exam be reviewed.
MR. OBERMEYER added that the need for the exam has always been
questionable. This exam is now combined with portions of the
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NCLB test for sophomores in 10 grade. It denies diplomas to
some students, particularly those in underperforming districts,
but most students get through it. About 95 percent of the
students in Anchorage who had sufficient credits to graduate did
pass the exit exam. It tends to be what is called a high-risk
stakes exam that can deny someone a diploma after 12 years of
satisfactory performance in school. In the Moore case, the judge
said that if the state is going to use tests like this, the
department needs to give some direction and assistance to those
districts so they can comply with the content and standards in
the curriculum. The court felt that wasn't being done, and
further that it violates the Alaska Constitution. So, he said,
the Moore case is directly tied to the exit exam and to the
performance of the educational system in Alaska as a whole. That
is why it was brought forward at this time.
8:19:16 AM
SENATOR STEVENS asked if the problem is that students are being
denied a diploma based on the results of this test but added
that Mr. Obermeyer surely wasn't suggesting they give everyone a
diploma just because they "stayed around" for 12 years.
MR. OBERMEYER explained that students tend to drop out at age 16
after failing this test when, if they had stayed, they could be
helped and encouraged to catch up. Also, the CEP suggests that
end-of-course exams are more relevant and show that kids have
mastered the area they are studying.
8:21:51 AM
SENATOR STEVENS asked how the Moore case implies in any way that
the exit exam violates students' constitutional rights.
8:22:18 AM
MR. OBERMEYER explained that substantive due process requires
giving sufficient notice. So, it could be implied that by school
districts not giving enough information to their students to
pass the test, they are violating their substantive due process
rights. The court also found insufficient oversight of the
districts in providing that evaluation. He directed the
committee to the appropriate sections of the Moore case relating
to this specific issue on pages 11-13 and 46-58. The conclusions
portion said:
The department was not fulfilling its constitutional
oversight responsibility in chronically
underperforming districts and schools, and ordered the
department to take adequate remedial measures to
establish compliance. The state asked the court now to
find that the deficiencies identified in '07 had been
cured and that this court should accept the system as
compliant with the education clause.
Further, he said, the plaintiffs asked the court to find that
the state court intervention efforts failed to comply with the
requirements of the court's 2007 order and that the department
continues to be out of compliance with the oversight duties
imposed by the education clause of the Alaska Constitution. The
court agreed.
CHAIR DAVIS summarized that some students are being denied
diplomas because they have failed this exam. She said it was
time to review the cost of giving this test and to find out the
extent of the existing contract.
8:27:02 AM
SENATOR OLSON asked Mr. Obermeyer the trends regarding
percentage of passage and failure of this test since it was
initially implemented.
MR. OBERMEYER suggested that the department might be better able
to answer this question.
8:28:20 AM
SENATOR OLSON asked if not passing the exit exam had an adverse
affect on children continuing on to college.
MR. OBERMEYER said the chances of a student who didn't pass the
exit exam going to college are next to none.
CHAIR DAVIS said if a student gets through high school without a
diploma, he can't get into college.
SENATOR OLSON asked if that applies to vocational schools, as
well.
MR. OBERMEYER answered that he didn't know for sure, but the CEP
said there may be alternative routes to a high school diploma
that he didn't think the state had examined.
8:29:40 AM
SENATOR OLSON asked if students can take the GED if they didn't
pass the exit exam.
MR. OBERMEYER said he believed so.
SENATOR OLSON asked how the degree of difficulty of the exit
exam compares to the difficulty of the GED exam.
MR. OBERMEYER replied that he has heard anecdotally that the
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exit exam isn't very difficult; it is first given in the 10
grade, but many of kids get discouraged from graduating by
failing it at that time, and then they drop through the cracks.
SENATOR OLSON said that employers look at someone with a high
school diploma and assume that the student has some basic
skills, and a student who doesn't pass the test won't have those
skills.
MR. OBERMEYER responded that employers like Alyeska, for
instance, have tests that they give to people before hiring them
without having to rely on the exit exam.
8:33:50 AM
EDDY JEANS, Director, School Finance and Facilities Section,
Department of Education and Early Development (DEED), said the
exit exam concept was brought up first by Senator Bunde with the
intent of being a minimum competency exam to help employers see
that students coming out of the public school system had the
basic skills in reading, writing and math. It was never intended
to measure whether a child is ready to go on to college.
CHAIR DAVIS asked him to give them more information on the test
- its success and where they are at this point statewide.
8:35:40 AM
ERIC MCCORMICK, Director, Assessment, Accountability and
Information Management, Department of Education and Early
Development (DEED), said that in tracking seniors who are not
graduating or are continuing because they don't have enough
credits or because they haven't passed the test, they found from
the time they take it in the 10th grade to when they take it in
the 12th grade, about 89 percent pass. He found that out of
1,500 seniors in 2008 who did not get diplomas after finishing
the school year, 69 percent passed all three parts of the HSGQE.
ththth
This does not include those who dropped out as a 9, 10 or 11
grader. He said the department is just now starting to work with
the Department of Labor to track how many of the students who
don't get their diplomas do go on to get a GED.
8:38:18 AM
SENATOR STEVENS asked what his recommendation is regarding the
test.
MR. MCCORMICK said he is new to this job and that he is
interested in looking at alternative routes to graduation, but
at this point he is just gathering information.
CHAIR DAVIS asked what he means by "alternative routes to
graduation." Is it for all students or just special education
students?
MR. MCCORMICK replied that they use CEP extensively for their
research, and most of the alternate routes are geared toward
students with disabilities and to students with limited English
proficiency. But he wanted to look into alternative routes for
general education students; he wasn't aware of any yet.
8:39:52 AM
SENATOR STEVENS asked if Mr. McCormick sees any value in this
exit exam.
MR. MCCORMICK answered that having a statewide set of standards
is important, but he would not commit further.
8:40:27 AM
MR. JEANS said the department's position is that there should be
some indicator on the students' diplomas that indicate their
level of proficiency whether it's the HSGQE or some other
mechanism. An example of that might be moving forward with the
"Work Keys Assessment" they are doing with the DOLWF - just
require districts to issue the result of the assessment on all
diplomas. Then employers could use that to evaluate whether a
student may or may not fit into their workplace.
CHAIR DAVIS asked what percentage of the present test is the
exit exam.
8:42:20 AM
MR. MCCORMICK did not have the breakdown of the questions, but
for the 10th grade, the test is split between the standards-
based assessment, which meets all of the NCLB and the HSGQE
requirements. They have questions that are developed for each
separately and others that address both.
CHAIR DAVIS asked if the standards-based assessment is what is
required by NCLB.
MR. MCCORMICK answered yes.
8:43:15 AM
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MR. JEANS added the retake component of the HSGQE in the 11 and
th
12 grades costs about $1.3 million to $1.5 million/year.
8:43:55 AM
SENATOR STEVENS asked Mr. Jeans what his position on the exit
exam is.
MR. JEANS said he can't say that they should get rid of it
without a fall back; they are looking at alternatives.
SENATOR STEVENS asked when the legislature can expect a
recommendation from the State Board and the department.
MR. JEANS said he will ask the Board, but it won't happen this
session.
CHAIR DAVIS said she isn't pushing for this to happen in the
next month, but the mandate was given two years ago and nothing
has been done. That is why this bill is before them. She said
they still hadn't gotten the information about the cost of
administration. Also, she remarked that even if 95 percent of
Anchorage students passed and got diplomas, the remaining 5
percent represents a huge number of children.
8:46:51 AM
MR. JEANS answered that the department just entered a new annual
contract with their assessment vendor, DRCR. It has one-year
extensions within it, and they can be renewed out to 2016. If
the legislature repeals the HSGQE, then they have the option to
go back and renegotiate with them. He didn't know how much that
would save, because they are looking at the entire state
assessment system, which consists of grades 3-10. The HSGQE is
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embedded in the 10 grade standardized assessment, so pulling
out the high school qualifying pieces while putting some
standards-based assessments pieces back in would take some work.
They were able to identify that the retakes would cost $1.3
million - $1.5 million annually beginning in 2012 and that could
be saved.
MR. JEANS continued explaining that the estimated cost of the
contract through 2016 is approximately $48 million. Judge
Gleason identified the Yupiit school district as chronically
underperforming with below 30 percent of their students being
proficient in reading, writing and math. In that case the judge
said the state has an obligation to change the environment so
that students clearly have an opportunity to learn what is being
tested. Their diplomas should not be held until the state can
demonstrate to the courts that those children absolutely had the
opportunity to learn. When the department asked for oversight
last year in SB 285, it drew the line at 50 percent of the
students passing the assessments.
8:51:13 AM
He continued that the department has intervened in all three
schools in the Yupiit district and are seeing a slight increase
in performance but not as much as they would like to see.
MR. JEANS added that as Mr. McCormick said, 89 percent of
students pass the HSGQE within the 3-year period; the details of
those figures are available at the department.
8:53:11 AM
SENATOR STEVENS said, thinking back to his own graduation, that
his diploma just said pass or not; there were no qualifying
things on it regarding levels of proficiency. But he could see
where there might be some value in indicating a level of
proficiency and asked for an explanation of the Work Keys.
8:53:44 AM
MR. JEANS explained that the Work Keys Assessment aligns
reading, math, and locating information to a number of specific
jobs classes so that a person can see what level of proficiency
relates to those types of job. Taking the test early in the high
school career gives the school the opportunity to bring students
up to speed in the needed areas. It's pretty well known
nationwide, but not so well in Alaska, and employers are just
now starting to get used to it. The DOLWD is using this
assessment in its job centers to help people locate jobs.
SENATOR STEVENS asked how that differs from an employer asking
for the academic record, "And how much information are you going
to put on these diplomas, anyway?"
MR. JEANS answered that the Work Keys assess three areas that
would be identified on the diploma. Individual certificates are
issued, so you could have both a diploma and a certificate. All
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districts will be required to administer that test to their 11
graders next year.
SENATOR STEVENS asked if transcripts are still provided to
employers who want to know the specifics of a student's record.
8:57:05 AM
MR. JEANS answered that students can ask for transcripts and
provide them to employers, but the school district will not do
that automatically.
8:57:38 AM
LYDIA GARCIA, Executive Director, National Education Association
Alaska (NEA) supported SB 109. She said the HSGQE has long been
viewed by her members as a drain on the public schools'
resources. Additionally, this mandate is remiss by not providing
any meaningful data as to whether it is improving the abilities
of children in Alaskan schools. This is the fifth anniversary of
Noon v. State of Alaska, a lawsuit that was filed to improve the
chances of children with disabilities to receive the instruction
necessary to give them an opportunity to pass the test. They
heard the Moore case referenced two years ago when Judge Gleason
found that the state was failing to provide the correct
oversight and assistance to school districts attempting to meet
content and performance standards.
One example of the disconnect between testing and instruction is
that in 2004/05, 23 percent of Alaska's high schools did not
provide the necessary instruction for the geometry portion of
the mathematics tested by the exit exam. It doesn't provide a
valuable assessment for vocational students or people for whom
English is a second language, and sophomores who do pass the
test rebel against the other necessities of a high school
education such as credit accumulation. She said that NEA
strongly opposes high stakes testing and believes that money
spent on these tests could be better spent in the classroom
providing students with quality instruction. Alaska already has
numerous assessment tools available and the HSGQE has not proven
itself to be of any value. It is seen by students and the public
as an achievement, but it is the achievement of a minimum
standard. "It does not address excellence in any way."
9:01:15 AM
SENATOR STEVENS asked Ms. Garcia if she wants to replace it with
something or just get rid of it.
MS. GARCIA replied that NEA believes more focus needs to be
placed on the actual education. They already have the standards
based assessment to measure achievement.
VICE-CHAIR DAVIS held SB 109 in committee.
9:02:21 AM
VICE-CHAIR DAVIS found no further testimony and adjourned the
Senate Education Standing Committee meeting at 9:02 a.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| SB 109 CEP 1.pdf |
SEDC 3/16/2009 8:00:00 AM |
SB 109 |
| SB 109 CEP 2.pdf |
SEDC 3/16/2009 8:00:00 AM |
SB 109 |
| SB 109 CEP 3.pdf |
SEDC 3/16/2009 8:00:00 AM |
SB 109 |
| SB 109 Friedman lttr.pdf |
SEDC 3/16/2009 8:00:00 AM |
SB 109 |
| SB 109 NYT article.pdf |
SEDC 3/16/2009 8:00:00 AM |
SB 109 |
| SB 109 Sectional Analysis.pdf |
SEDC 3/16/2009 8:00:00 AM |
SB 109 |
| SB 109 Sponsor Statement.pdf |
SEDC 3/16/2009 8:00:00 AM |
SB 109 |
| SB 109 USA Today article.pdf |
SEDC 3/16/2009 8:00:00 AM |
SB 109 |