6/4/09
High School ninth-graders will have one fewer test to take next school year. But if they want to graduate, they will have one fewer years to take a new graduation assessment.
The state Education Department has decided to get rid of a 22-year-old high school graduation exam.
Since the 1987-88 school year, the New Mexico High School Competency Exam has been used by public high schools to gauge if a student is ready to graduate. The exam, administered to 10th graders, evaluates student knowledge in reading, language arts, mathematics, social studies and writing, according to state documents. If a 10th grader fails the exam, they have their junior and senior years, and even years after, to pass it. Assistant Secretary of Education for Assessment and Accountability Carlos Martinez said the life of the competency exam expired this year.
A replacement for this old examination is still in the works.
The Department has decided to hire a private contractor to create a new test called the “High School Graduation Assessment.” Martinez said the state has received interest from eight companies to develop the test. Since the bidding process is still open, Martinez would not release the expected cost to develop the test nor the names of the eight companies.
This test will have two purposes. First, it will replace the Competency Exam, and second it will replace the current test given to 11th graders as part of the state’s standardized testing system under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
That means 10th graders will no longer have to take standardized tests since the Competency Exam will no longer apply to them and the state standardized testing system only tests ninth- and 11th-graders in high school. That means today’s ninth-graders will not take a standardized test next year.
Also under the new system, students will take one test but will receive two scores. The score given for the state standardized testing requirement will continue to be based on the system of determining a students’ proficiency in math and reading. The second score, which is still being developed by the Department, will determine whether a student will graduate.
The new test will cover the same subjects as the current exams: the language arts, mathematics, science, writing and social studies. But under federal requirements, schools only report student scores in language arts and mathematics.
“We could set standards for graduation and have passing scores, minimal scores and have combinations of all that, particularly in subject areas that are required for graduation but not required for (No Child Left Behind Act),” Martinez said.
Martinez said the new test will not serve as a graduation requirement until the 2010-11 school year.
He said the state would administer the test in the 2009-10 school year but only as a test run.
“We need one year of data to establish a standard,” Martinez said.
News of the new test has met resistance at Española Valley High School.
Junior Dulce Avita said she thinks the new test will be much harder than the old Competency Exam.
“I think we should just keep it the way we have it, one in the sophomore year and another one in the junior year,” Avita said. “If they combine both of them, it’s going to be a little harder.”
Sophomore counselor Ben Medina said he was concerned about students having one less year to pass the graduation requirement.
“The more time (a student) takes it, the more chance (a student will) pass,” Medina said.
Martinez said the new Graduation assessment will be administered twice a year and students will have up to five years to take it after the 12th grade.
Currently, if a student fails the Competency Exam but passes all their classes, students receive a “certificate of completion” instead of a diploma.
Freshman counselor Gloria Champion said she was concerned that parents do not understand the difference between the certificate and the diploma. She said employers, like the Army, would not accept a certificate of completion.
Martinez thinks the new test will benefit students.
“(The Graduation Assessment) is a hard test, no doubt about it,” Martinez said. “But we’re confident it’s the kind of test that will get kids ready for college or for the work force without any doubt of the value of the high school diploma.”