The New York Times
November 4, 2007
Op-Ed Contributors
No Exit
By MONTY NEILL and LISA GUISBOND
Cambridge, Mass.
THE Connecticut State Board of Education is considering some form of exit exams as a graduation requirement from high school. The board is likely to make its recommendations to the Legislature by the end of the year.
Connecticut should think twice before going down this road. Evidence shows “high stakes” tests like exit exams that determine whether a student can graduate, are the wrong prescription for what ails public education.
The ills of many public schools are undeniable. Like other states, Connecticut has vast disparities in educational access, quality and outcomes. The record demonstrates, however, that exit exams are a false solution for these problems. Graduation tests that deny diplomas are simply another way to punish the victims of inadequately financed education. The victims are disproportionately low-income and minority students, some of them learning-disabled or immigrants for whom English is not the first language.
Proponents of graduation tests ignore the real consequences. Like snake-oil salesmen, they promise miracle cures. In reality, the harmful side effects of exit exams include a curriculum narrowed to a few subjects, teaching reduced to little more than test preparation, increased dropout rates and demoralized students.
Exit exam promoters promise narrowed achievement gaps and overall score increases. But that has not happened. While the number of states with graduation tests has steadily risen over the last two decades, results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the benchmark federal test that is administered every year, show no narrowing of the achievement gap among racial groups at the high school level. Nor have average reading scores increased.
A major reason for the lack of progress is that high-stakes testing, whether state-mandated graduation exams or the federal No Child Left Behind law, flies in the face of real learning. Untested subjects are ignored, while tested topics turn into test-coaching programs. Test prep is like holding a match to a thermostat and believing the room will get warmer: scores may rise on that test, but learning does not.
What’s more, high-stakes testing reduces the high school graduation rate. Texas introduced exit exams in 1992. Fifteen years later, a record 40,200 students in the class of 2007 were denied diplomas based on the state tests. National independent research confirms a link between graduation tests and higher dropout rates.
In 2006, Boston’s annual dropout rate rose sharply to 9.9 percent from 7.7 percent. At the same time, the city suffered a wave of youth violence. Boston City Council members, who solicited the views of local young people on why violence was rising, reported “frustration and boredom with the endless drilling and practice” for the state comprehensive assessment exams, which students in grades 3 through 10 are required to take.
Unable to produce evidence of real success, exit exam supporters say we’re not doing these students any favors if we just give them a diploma. But what is gained if students have nothing to show after playing by the rules and passing required courses for 12 years of schooling? Students without diplomas earn much less money, are less likely to maintain stable families and are far more likely to end up in prison. Denying a diploma based on a test score does neither student nor society any favors.
If exit exams really enhance equity and school quality, why are Southern states — the first to adopt graduation tests — still mired at the bottom by any measure of educational performance? Why, in short, should Connecticut follow the failed practices of Mississippi and Alabama?
The truth is that race and class performance gaps reflect more on what happens outside the classroom than inside. A recent analysis of high school test scores in Connecticut found socioeconomic factors alone account for about 85 percent of the variation in test scores in four subjects. Connecticut can do better than putting accountability on the backs of its children while failing to address the underlying economic and social inequalities.
The choice is not between imposing graduation tests and doing nothing to improve education. Solving the problem of unequal schools and inadequate outcomes requires many actions, from ensuring financial equity for the Bridgeports and Hartfords to better K-12 programs to having expectations of a well-rounded education for all children.
Connecticut must reorder its priorities and pursue public policies that address the foundations of children’s academic success: health care, nutrition and living wages for working parents, along with high-quality teachers, a strong curriculum and well-financed schools.
Monty Neill is the co-executive director and Lisa Guisbond is the testing reform analyst at the National Center for Fair and Open Testing.
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