State
may drop alternative exam to get a
diploma
End planned for school's SRA
Thursday, May 19, 2005 • BY JOHN MOONEY •
Star-Ledger Staff
New Jersey's alternative exam for
graduating high school, long criticized for being too easy,
would be phased out over the next six years, under a plan
state Education Commissioner William Librera unveiled
yesterday.
Though the test, known as the Special
Review Assessment, is taken by one in five high school
seniors who fail the state's primary graduation exam,
Librera has long pledged to eliminate it.
Under Librera's plan presented to the
State Board of Education, the SRA's language arts section
would be eliminated first, starting in 2009 when next year's
freshmen would be eligible to take it. The math portion of
the exam would be eliminated for the graduating class of
2011.
Once the SRA is eliminated, those who
fail the state's primary graduation exam, the High School
Proficiency Assessment, would be given an extra chance to
take the test and receive remedial help along the way. If
they still don't pass, they would be able to appeal to the
commissioner to make the case for their diploma, Librera
said.
The SRA has been chided for years as an
easy backdoor around HSPA.
Under current rules, students who fail
either section of the HSPA are automatically enrolled in the
SRA process for that section. The SRA is an untimed series
of tasks involving reading or other aptitudes that are given
over weeks, if not months. Administered and often graded by
the teachers in the classroom, most students who take the
SRA pass it.
First developed in 1985 as an fallback
test for a select few students, the SRA has become a popular
alternative to a diploma in many districts. Statewide, about
15,300 high school graduates in 2004 -- or about 20 percent
-- received their diploma by way of the SRA. In some urban
high schools, as many as half the graduates got their
diplomas though the SRA.
"The SRA hurts the very kids it was
designed to help," Librera said yesterday. "No matter how
conscientious people may be, 400 tasks and all the
interpretations of students' work that they do (under the
SRA) cannot equate to a well-constructed test. And it erodes
the meaning and integrity of the high school
diploma."
Librera's proposal already has its
critics among school officials. Many admit there is an
over-reliance on the SRA process, but they also say the
problems are not bad enough to eliminate an entire program
that is needed to help keep kids in school.
In North Plainfield, a district where
half the students come from homes where English is not the
first language, school officials said the SRA is a necessary
option.
Assistant Superintendent Robert Rich said
districts with legitimate need for the SRA are being
penalized because other districts might have abused it. In
last year's senior class, about 22 percent of the students
graduated through the SRA, he said. However, the district
has revamped its math curriculum and the number of students
who will use the SRA this year will drop.
"There should be some mechanism for an
alternative process," Rich said. "Unfortunately, for
districts like ours that treated the SRAs very seriously --
and didn't use it as an opportunity to push students through
who didn't deserve to graduate -- it hurts us."
Librera's proposal also calls for several
changes in the existing HSPA system, including allowing
students to take it a fourth time -- in the fall of junior
year.
Librera also wants to expand a pilot
program from last year that gave intensive tutoring to
students in five districts during the summer before their
senior year. The pilot program will focus exclusively on
math this year, a particular sore spot for the state. Nearly
three-quarters of those who take the SRA need it for
math.
Given the math problems, some school
officials said the state should be slower to phase out the
math SRA.
"But I don't think it should be used as a
crutch," said Joyce Baynes, school superintendent in
Dunellen, where about 10 percent of graduates take the SRA.
"I think districts need to think carefully about which
students really need that kind of process."
The appeals process available to students
who still can't pass the HSPA has yet to be developed,
Librera said. It would likely include factors such as a
student's transcript and attendance record.
Staff writer Bev McCarron contributed to this report.
© 2005 The Star-Ledger. Used by NJ.com with
permission.
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