Legislature(2009 - 2010)BELTZ 211
04/01/2009 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
8:02:53 AM
VICE CHAIR DAVIS announced SB 109 to be up for consideration.
She indicated that no one was on line or present from the
department.
8:03:12 AM
SENATOR BUNDE said he was the author of the original bill and
authored it, because the business community and the University
had serious concerns about children leaving school with a
diploma and being functionally illiterate. The business
community found itself in the situation of either having to
teach new employees to read and write or to simply let them go -
neither a good solution. The University was also very frustrated
with getting high school graduates who could not function at the
University level spends about $20 million/yr. in remedial work.
SENATOR BUNDE indicated that President Hamilton said that many
Alaskan students needed a full year of remediation before
starting classes instead of the one or two classes that others
in the Lower 48 typically took.
8:05:12 AM
SENATOR STEVENS joined the meeting.
SENATOR BUNDE continued that they had discussions regarding what
a high school diploma should mean, and finally benchmarks were
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established for minimum proficiency - at about the 9 grade
level of proficiency. A majority of students do pass- and many
of them at the first attempt; some never will pass, and a
majority of these are intensive needs students.
He suggested that we ought to keep this benchmark until
something better is found. About 80 percent of the public
supported it at passage, and it has been his experience that
students seem to be attending school more regularly and paying
closer attention in class since this test was implemented.
He has heard questions about whether the diagnostic test
administered in the 11th grade is given too late to do anything
about it if the students are not able to pass and thinks they
should discuss an earlier evaluation. He said the high school
exit exam costs $1 million to administer, but it is not a
substantial amount of money when compared to the school budget.
8:10:08 AM
SENATOR HUGGINS asked Senator Bunde to stay involved in the
process as they work through ways to improve it, and as they
review other instruments.
SENATOR BUNDE said he would be happy to. He said that former
Senator Gretchen Guess was deeply involved in this project and
he encouraged the committee to see if she would be available for
comment as well.
8:11:05 AM
SENATOR OLSON asked Senator Bunde if he had gotten any feedback
from teachers regarding the efficiency of the exit exam.
8:12:23 AM
In response, Senator Bunde shared an experience. After the exit
exam had been in place for about three years, a group of
Anchorage principals came to see him. They told him the exit
exam was working, students were coming to school more regularly
and were paying more attention, but it was very difficult and
expensive. They assured him that they would continue to do the
substantial list they had created to help remediated
unsuccessful students who couldn't pass the exit exam if they
the legislature would withdraw taking the exit exam as a
requirement. He said the dropout rate has always been a problem
in Alaska.
SENATOR OLSON said it is his understanding that the dropout rate
increased after the exit exam was put in place, but he didn't
know why. He could see how a person would lose hope and drop out
if he failed the exam at age 15.
8:14:44 AM
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SENATOR BUNDE asked him to remember the exam is 9 grade level
proficiency. Students start falling behind early in their career
and by the time this exam is administered they are already a
couple of years behind and often drop out anyhow. He has heard
one criticism of the exam that may be valid and that is that
students pass all three sections and think they've done all they
need to, so they leave school. He does not think that is
actually a problem with the exam, rather with parents' and
schools' representation of it.
8:16:30 AM
SENATOR OLSON asked when the bill originally passed, what was
the department's position and if it had changed.
SENATOR BUNDE responded that when this passed Dr. Shirley
Holloway was the commissioner; and she worked closely with
Senator Guess, himself and others. He remembered that Ms.
Holloway was supportive of the high school qualifying exam and
felt it should continue.
SENATOR OLSON asked if she testified to that on the record.
SENATOR BUNDE replied that this is from a conversation they had
in the past couple of weeks. She helped shape the exam; so when
it passed he remembered her being supportive. Governor Knowles
signed the bill. The recent past commissioner, Roger Samson,
supported it as well, and felt Alaska was on the cutting edge of
educational reform since it was the only state to have enacted
it.
8:18:42 AM
SENATOR OLSON asked how many states have an exit exam.
SENATOR BUNDE replied that he was not sure.
VICE CHAIR DAVIS said she would get that information for him.
8:18:58 AM
SENATOR STEVENS said last time they discussed this he tried to
get the department to take a stand and they "danced around it"
and did not. One of their rationales was going to a Work Keys
Program and having a level of proficiency indication on the
diploma. He didn't think that was quite the same as an exit
exam.
SENATOR BUNDE responded that was discussed when they developed
the original test. They considered gilt-edged diplomas, barely
competent diplomas and attendance diplomas. He worked in special
education when he taught; there were blue birds, red birds, and
yellow birds. The kids knew slow, average and bright, and that's
what the diplomas would come to mean. The legislature has a role
in deciding what a diploma means.
He said it is difficult to test competencies and the more
categories they have, the more confused the public gets. So,
that idea was rejected; but he has not had a direct conversation
with the department but staff has, and the enthusiasm in the
department for the high school exit exams is tepid at best.
8:21:07 AM
VICE CHAIR DAVIS opined that despite the exit exam, the dropout
and graduation rates don't seem to be any better. She asked
Senator Bunde if he is aware that there isn't just one test, but
two that have been combined.
8:22:22 AM
SENATOR BUNDE replied yes, he is aware of taht, and he also
knows the NCLB test cannot be dropped.
VICE CHAIR DAVIS said the reason the bill came forward is that
the department did not address the recommendation by the Board
of Education two years ago. It is her understanding that the
present board said it is ready to consider it and that they are
looking at Work Keys as one alternative. Many of the people
supported the exit exam, but they mostly agree that it now needs
to be reviewed. Many of Alaska's young people, even many who are
supposed to be honor students, go away to school and have to
take remedial courses before they can get to their core program.
She also pointed out that the test has been watered down since
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it was implemented, and it's now at about the 8 grade level.
She asked if Senator Bunde would be willing to review some of
these issues as she would value his input. This is a high stakes
test. If you don't come out of school with a diploma, you can't
get into many schools and a GED does not qualify as a diploma,
which is something that needed review also. Some states have
withdrawn the exit exam requirement.
8:26:35 AM
SENATOR BUNDE agreed that they should never stop searching for
improvement, but he didn't want to let go of one tool until they
had another. He said he appreciated the invitation and would be
happy to work with the committee in any way possible.
8:27:00 AM
TOM OBERMEYER, staff to Senator Davis, sponsor of SB 109, wanted
to go over some statistics provided by the department. He
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referenced a document from Eric McCormick dated March 18 that
gave some graduation statistics. It indicated that in the 2008,
there was a 62 percent graduation rate. In summary although the
graduation rate has remained consistent over the last five
years, the number of graduates has increased for four
consecutive years. This is largely to the efforts of the
district to retain those students who may need more than four
years to graduate. He pointed out that the graduation rate is
calculated unlike the dropout rate, over the cohort group from
grades 9-12 using the number of graduates as the denominator.
Statistics on the graduation exams are not high, but they do
have a 95 percent participation rate. Graduation passage scores
tend to drop as they go up higher because those kids who haven't
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passed before don't improve and then end up dropping out by 12
grade.
VICE CHAIR DAVIS said she would rather not discuss these things
until the committee has copies of the reports.
MR. OBERMEYER said there packets should already have documents
from CEP that indicate movement in other state back to end of
course exams rather than one high-stake exam at the end.
VICE-CHAIR DAVIS found no further comments and held SB 109 in
committee.
8:30:59 AM
VICE CHAIR DAVIS adjourned the meeting at 8:30 a.m.
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