Tutoring
program falls short of goal
Only 38 percent
of students get diploma through alternate program
Tuesday, September 28, 2004 • By Bev McCarron •
Star-Ledger Staff
A pilot program to help
students pass the high school exit exam through intensive
summer tutoring fell shy of the state's goal, with just
under 38 percent of students scoring well enough to earn
their diplomas.
In an effort to cut the
growing numbers of students who fail the High School
Proficiency Assessment and take the easier alternate
graduation test, the Department of Education launched pilot
remediation programs in five districts. Students who
participated had failed the proficiency test last
spring.
On average, the results
released last week showed many of the 232 students in the
five-week sessions had improved on their language arts test
scores, but continued to struggle with math.
The state's goal was to
get 40 percent of the students to pass and avoid going into
the alternate route program, called the Special Review
Assessment, which was used by 18,000 out of 90,000 gradates
last year to get a diploma.
Results of the state's
$700,000 summer pilot program were mixed, with 74.5 percent
of students achieving proficiency in language arts, but only
36.8 percent passing in math.
Students must pass both
sections of the test to get a diploma, and only 37.9
percent, or 88 of the 232 students who stayed with the
summer program, achieved that benchmark. The program had
been intended to help 250 seniors, but 18 did not
finish.
State and local officials
said that the program was still a success, noting even if
students didn't pass, they made gains that brought them
closer to a passing score. Those who failed will retake the
test on Oct. 6.
State Education
Commissioner William Librera acknowledged, however, that the
results underscore a problem with math.
"A lot of the math kids
started way below and we need to see what kind of progress
they did make," he said. "It is possible we made more gains
in the math side than in the literacy. We don't know yet....
But it points us to the thorny problems of math and what we
need to do in its instruction."
Librera said the results
would be discussed in more detail at a state school board
meeting next week, and called the pilot program "a work in
progress."
"We wanted to see if an
intensive period of individualized tutoring and support
would make a difference in re-testing. Clearly it did," he
said.
The state's goal is to
slash the number of students in the SRA program, in which
teachers under great pressure to pass kids administer and
score a series of untimed, open-ended questions. Students
who repeatedly fail the standard exit exam almost never fail
to get their diplomas through SRA.
In some urban districts,
as many as 75 to 90 percent of seniors get their diplomas
that way.
Students who took part in
the pilot programs in Hillside, Franklin in Somerset County,
Englewood, Vineland and Jersey City are being are being
notified this week of their scores.
According to the state,
the passing rates posted in the five districts ranged from a
low of 68.4 percent to a high of 86.4 percent in language
arts, and from 21.4 percent to 54.3 percent in
math.
The state didn't release
district-by-district results, but some of the districts were
able to provide them.
In Hillside, 20 of 28
students passed the language arts test. In math, nine of 44
students passed.
Only nine students total
are in the clear -- five who needed to only pass math and
four who passed both math and language arts. The rest have
to retake at least one portion of the test.
Lynnette Charles,
supervisor of the Hillside program, which also enrolled
students from Roselle and Elizabeth, said the students
returned a survey at the end of the program in which they
said they felt better prepared for the graduation
test.
She said the small-group
instruction taught by experienced teachers helped them
understand math concepts and boost their test-taking
confidence. On average, she said, math scores rose by 8.3
points per student, and 23.5 points per student in language
arts.
In Franklin, not all the
scores have come back. Franklin also had students from
Piscataway and Bound Brook in its program.
Charlotte Weisner,
assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction in
Franklin, said she expected to have final numbers today. But
she said it appeared half of them had passed so
far.
"It looks like we did
nicely," she said. "
Districts also said it
would be helpful to get the results sooner. They were
supposed to be returned in August; instead, they come a week
before the retest.
Bev McCarron covers education. She can be reached at
908-429-3018, or bmccarron@starledger.com
Copyright 2004 The Star-Ledger. Used by NJ.com with
permission.
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