Urban Graduation Scam Needs to Be Addressed

By Saul Cooperman

It's been about 100 days since Bill Librera became commissioner. That's enough time for him to get his people in key positions and organize the Department of Education to his liking. It's not too soon to expect statements of what he will do.

One pressing issue facing Commissioner Librera is that of the Special Review Assessment. It was instituted in the 1980s only for children who had difficulty taking the high-stakes graduation test. In the first few years the High School Proficiency Test was given, only a few children who "froze" on the HSPT were allowed to be given the SRA. Now, in most urban districts, all children who fail the graduation test three times are automatically put into the SRA. And, amazingly, almost all of them are deemed to know the skills they didn't know, and receive a high school diploma.

How bad is the situation? I recently received a copy of a confidential Department of Education "SRA Data Collection Survey." It contained the following information:

In June 2001, Pleasantville had 188 graduates; 111 students were admitted to the SRA and 111 graduated. The 111 had failed the graduation test three times yet their teachers, principal and superintendent certified all 111 as competent. Camden had 341 graduates, admitted 177 to the SRA and 177 were certified as competent and graduated. East Orange had 499 graduates, 158 admitted to the SRA, and 158 graduated. In Irvington the figures were 274 graduates, 126 admitted to the SRA and 126 graduated. In Newark, 1,423 graduates, 725 in the SRA program, and, bet you guessed it by now, 725 children were deemed competent in a test they failed three times, and they graduated.

To put this into perspective, more than 40 percent of urban ninth-graders drop out before graduation. Of the fewer than 60 percent who stay in school, almost half get their diplomas without demonstrating their competence on the state test. So, about one out of every three ninth-graders in our cities graduates by passing the state test.

Is there any other organization in our society that would be satisfied with a success rate of approximately 33 percent?

The requirement to learn essential content and be able to demonstrate that knowledge is what high-stakes testing is all about. A tremendous amount of work is behind the construction of a high-stakes test. What content should be taught, how should it be measured, is the measurement free of bias? Task forces are dispatched, public debate is held, test contractors selected and so forth. It's a time-consuming and costly process.

So, on one hand we have a costly and laborious process to assure the integrity of a high school diploma, while on the other hand kids in our urban areas are being given a diploma when teachers, principals and superintendents know they don't have the knowledge required.

The consequence of this deception is that the kids have figured out that the high-stakes test really isn't high-stakes after all, and you can get a diploma without passing it. I have talked to friends of an urban high school freshman I mentor, and they have told me exactly that. With the numbers cited in the third paragraph of this column, my surprise would have been if they didn't know the score.

I have talked with former commissioner Vito Gagliardi about the situation and he said, "This system is totally out of control, and it must be fixed. I was beginning to take a look at it when my term ended." I asked Commissioner Librera about the SRA and he said, "There's a vagueness to the process. We have to make sure the tasks of the SRA are the same as the content of the state test. We will be examining this."

The problem was not of Librera's making, but this hot potato is his to deal with. And no one should expect him to solve it overnight, but his statement said nothing about the real problem: There is a charade going on where teachers, principals and superintendents pass out diplomas to kids who don't have the skills. Making sure the tasks of the SRA match the state test says nothing about the people who oversee the situation. If they are ignoring the process now, why won't they ignore the process in the future?

Ending the situation of passing out diplomas to children who don't have the skills is duplicitous to the public and unfair to the students. I believe the commissioner when he says, "It's on my agenda." Bill Librera is bright, but, like many situations he will face, this one will test his character, not his intelligence.

Saul Cooperman, a former New Jersey education commissioner, is author of the book "How Schools Really Work-Practical Advice for Parents from an Insider." His column appears every four weeks in Perspective.