State
school board urged not to drop 'last chance'
test
Thursday, July 21, 2005 • BY
JOHN MOONEY • Star-Ledger Staff
As time winds down on New Jersey's
controversial alternative high school test, urban and
vocational school leaders yesterday made a last-ditch try to
save at least a semblance of the exam they called a vital
"safety net" for students.
The state Board of Education is poised to
approve a resolution that would start the phase-out of the
Special Review Assessment, beginning with the next year's
freshman class as it moves up through high school. The board
is slated to vote at its next meeting in August.
The SRA is an open-ended, untimed
assessment that is taken by those who fail at least one
section of the state's standard high school test, which is
required to graduate. Few fail the SRA process, and one in
five graduates last year needed it to gain a diploma. State
officials have called it an easy out and have proposed
ending it altogether.
Yet its few vocal supporters testified
before the board yesterday that the SRA remains an important
alternative for many who would drop out altogether. Among
the most compelling arguments was from those in adult high
schools, many of them dropouts from schools and now
returning for another shot at a diploma.
Olga Rodriguez, a 24-year-old single
mother of two, left Elizabeth High School at 17 and returned
last year to an adult school in the Union County vocational
program. She graduated this year with the help of the
SRA.
"Without the SRA, I would not have the
opportunity to graduate on time, and that's important for a
single mother," she testified yesterday. "Please allow it to
continue, so others can feel the same sense of
achievement."
Those in traditional high schools echoed
the argument, especially in urban districts where half of
the graduates need the SRA. In some high schools, the number
is close to 80 percent.
They argued that students' fates
otherwise can hinge on the standard High School Proficiency
Assessment, first given in junior year and repeated up to
three times.
"To punish these kids and say this is a
one-time test that means everything to your future is just
ludicrous," said Frank Gargiulo, the Hudson County
vocational school superintendent and president of the
statewide association.
Newark schools are developing a plan that
would tighten the eligibility for the SRA, saying it would
only be open to those students who also had gone through
tutoring and other extra programs.
"The SRA process assists us in making
sure that no child is left behind," said assistant
superintendent Anzella Nelms. "To deny urban youngsters who
have otherwise fulfilled all the requirements of graduation
an opportunity to move on with their lives is not merely an
injustice, it is a great tragedy."
But that set up one of the contentious
moments of the afternoon, when the Rev. Reginald Jackson
testified against the SRA, calling the test a "fraud" and
making veiled references to Newark's plan and its supporters
as a "cover for the failure of the public
schools."
"They lift up students dropping out of
school as a threat," said Jackson, president of the state's
black clergy council. "The end result of graduating via the
SRA has much the same consequence, a bleak
future."
John Mooney covers education. He may be reached at
jmooney@starledger.com or (973) 392-1548.
© 2005 The Star-Ledger. Used by NJ.com with
permission.
|