About 19 percent of Mississippi high school graduates did not pass one or more of the subject-area tests last year, according to data I received through a public records request.
Up until 2015, that would have meant they would not have been eligible to receive a diploma.
However, the state Board of Education decided to stop requiring students to demonstrate sufficient knowledge in the core subjects of algebra I, U.S. history, biology and English II before earning the right to walk the stage.
Predictably, the state’s graduation rate has improved from 74.5 percent in 2014 – the last year you had to pass the tests – to 82.3 percent in 2016.
But the numbers bear out that a large part of that improvement has to do not with teaching better but with lower standards for how much we expect children in our state to learn during their 13 years of taxpayer-funded education.
I first wrote about this topic a few months back (Aug. 24, “Lower standards equal less dropouts”) and promised to follow up with the results of a public records request. I knew then that the standards were weaker, but I didn’t know how much effect that had on the higher graduation rate because the state Department of Education did not publish that data. So I requested, “Recordings indicating the total number of students statewide who failed one or more of the subject-area tests in the most recent year and still graduated. Also, the total number of graduates in that year.”
The state initially responded that the information is self-reported from the 144 districts and that it did not have complete information from across the state. It said it was working on a policy to require districts to report that information.
That’s a good thing, but one that should have been implemented when the standards were lowered, not just when a pesky reporter started asking questions. The people of this state, who fund public education, deserve to know whether the improved graduation rate is real or not.
To its credit, the state did respond back this week and said 22,981 students in 2016 passed all four subject-area tests while 5,432 students used one or more “options.” Those options for graduating without passing the tests include:
• Getting a sufficient grade in those four classes to offset the low test score
• Adding the scores from all four tests and dividing by four. If the resulting number is high enough, the student graduates, even if he bombed one particular test.
• Making at least a 17 on the ACT in those subjects.
It’s clear those are all just different ways to allow educators to slip students through who don’t really know enough. Doing that won’t make those 5,400-plus students better prepared for work or help Mississippi lift itself off the bottom educationally or economically. All it does is hide the truth to make the education bureaucracy look better.
State Superintendent Carey Wright, who orchestrated lowering the standards and is under fire by the state auditor for allegations of questionable spending, should have her feet held to fire on this issue when the newest graduation scores are released in January.
