SPECIAL TO THE STAR-TELEGRAM/EMILY HUGHES
Kimberly Howard, after passing the TAAS on her 15th try, now works at JPS Health Network.
Any thoughts on this anyone.
Posted on 08/23/2006 6:31:59 PM PDT by Dubya
TRY, TRY AGAIN Thousands of former students in Texas and other states are still trying to pass old high school exit exams to earn their diplomas -- some for as long as a decade or more -- even though the tests have been replaced by newer, tougher ones.
"I knew that if I wanted to make something of myself, I had to have a high school diploma," said Kimberly Howard of Fort Worth, who took the old Texas Assessment of Academic Skills exam 15 times before passing it.
"I just kept going because I didn't want to be defeated," said Howard, 28, who was supposed to graduate in 1996 from O.D. Wyatt High School in the Fort Worth district.
Two years later, she passed the test and earned her diploma, which helped her secure a job at JPS Health Network. She's been working there for nine years.
The state stopped using the TAAS exam four years ago and replaced it with the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills.
Students keep taking exit exams because the only other option is a General Educational Development credential, which doesn't carry the same weight as a high school diploma. That's one reason some states still offer old exit exams, according to education officials across the nation.
"This is a big deal because we're talking about people's livelihoods," said Wally Carter, director of testing for the Arlington school district.
Military enlistment, for instance, is harder for students with only a GED.
"That's just another option that's taken away," Carter said.
The Texas Education Agency still wheels out the old TAAS exam four times a year. Schools are required to make it available for anyone who wants to take it, but many districts do not announce that it is still being given.
"You want to give these people a chance, and the best way to do that is to keep the TAAS alive," said Victoria Young, director of reading, writing and social studies for the state TAKS assessment team.
From October 2005 through July 2006, 2,067 people took the TAAS test, according to the Texas Education Agency.
"We don't know if it's ever going to stop being given," Young said.
The TAAS program began in 1990 and was replaced by the more difficult TAKS in 2003.
But requests to retake the TAAS exam still trickle in.
In the Arlington district, a couple of people have been trying to pass it for nearly 13 years, Carter said.
Many students who retake the TAAS retest have completed their high school course work but are still trying to get their diplomas, officials said.
"Some schools try to keep in touch with kids to let them know about it," said David Holland, testing director for the Birdville school district. "But the further out we get, it's harder and harder to keep in touch with them."
A couple of students in Birdville have been trying to pass the test since 2002.
Holland said he respects them. "They have met failure so many times, but they still come back," he said.
Tutoring required
Exit exams have a big effect on students and schools, according to a report released Wednesday by the Center on Education Policy in Washington, D.C., an independent education-advocacy group. Twenty-five states have or plan to have exit exams, according to the report.
Texas is one of 18 states that require schools to offer tutoring for students who fail parts of their exit exams. The TAKS test includes English, mathematics, science and social studies.
The state requires that school administrators design a "personal graduation plan" for any student who fails the TAKS exam or is in danger of not graduating after five years of high school.
One reason states offer tutoring is that it helps avert lawsuits aimed at interrupting or ending testing programs, according to the study. Also, states tutor students because it helps raise passing rates on exit exams; low passing rates can create political embarrassment and public opposition to the tests.
Like Texas, other states allow students to retake exit exams, sometimes years after they've graduated.
"It makes more sense to do that than to start all over again when they get out of school," said Monty Neill, director of FairTest in Cambridge, Mass., a group that raises awareness about problems with standardized tests. "Once you pass one of the required tests, you only have to take the parts that you didn't pass. It would be difficult if you're prepping for one test and suddenly they change it up on you. Maybe there are even things on there that they never had an opportunity to learn."
In some states, last-ditch efforts to pass exit exams come with requirements such as enrolling in adult education classes or giving up after age 21.
It's also getting tougher for students to retake old, outdated exams.
Nevada, for example, put a new exit exam in place in 2003, but it was still giving the old one to former students through this spring.
Since June, Nevada students have had to take the newer version of the test, said Richard Vineyard, assistant director of assessment, program accountability and curriculum for the Nevada Department of Education.
Get ready early
Early preparation for the TAKS test is important, officials say.
"We're not waiting until somebody is an 11th-grader to say, 'This kid can't really read,'" Young said. "We're figuring it out in second and third grade."
But there will always be some students who can't pass the exit exam, officials said.
For students who don't grasp what is being tested, continued attempts to pass the old exam will be futile without some kind of tutoring.
But when students miss a passing grade by only a couple of points, retaking the test may help, said Mike Sayler, an associate professor and dean of the technology and cognition college at the University of North Texas at Denton.
"The worse someone did, the less likely they are to pass a test on subsequent tests," Sayler said. "Everyone knows that the best way to pass any test is to find out what parts of the test the person did poorly on, and then help them study and prepare for those portions."
Many times, he said, part of the problem is poor test-taking skills, and some review of good test-taking skills will help.
Howard, the former Fort Worth student, said she never received tutoring after she left high school. She just kept retaking the test.
"When I found out I didn't pass, it was a downer," she said.
After 14 letters from her former high school telling her that she hadn't passed the math portion of the TAAS exam, the 15th letter was different.
"I didn't open the letter until 11 at night," she said. "When I opened it, I started screaming and hollering and crying. I had finally done it."
IN THE KNOW
TAAS and TAKS
Facts about the TAAS and TAKS exams:
The TAAS testing program began in 1990 and was retired in 2002. Diplomas were withheld from students who did not pass the exit exam.
In 2003, TAAS was replaced by the TAKS testing program, which is tougher and tests students in more grade levels and subjects. The TAKS exit exam became a requirement for the class of 2005.
From October 2005 through July 2006, 2,067 people in Texas took the TAAS test.
In October 2005, 59,137 students retook the TAKS exit exam, but by the April 2006 exam, the number had dropped to 4,511.
Twenty-five states have or plan to have exit exams, and 24 of them offer students chances to retake the exam after 12th grade. Policies vary by state.
SOURCE: Texas Education Agency and the Center on Education Policy Terry Webster, 817-685-3819 twebster@star-telegram.com
SPECIAL TO THE STAR-TELEGRAM/EMILY HUGHES
Kimberly Howard, after passing the TAAS on her 15th try, now works at JPS Health Network.
Any thoughts on this anyone.
I'm glad she kept trying.
Good for her.
Yeah, she may have totally blown off high school as part of her predicament, but maybe she went to a really bad school. She did take the test 15 times. That shows more than a hint of some good character.
HMM. Good for her. I have a GED though and have never had any problems.
Well, Kimberly gets an "A" for perserverance -- a valuable character trait.
But fifteen times to pass the TAAS -- which is equivalent to 8th or 9th grade knowledge. I'm guessing she's not a mental giant and doesn't have much upward mobility.
But, if she's reliable, there are places she can work and earn some self-respect.
GEDs can represent more than a diploma sometimes, depending on the students and schools you compare them to.
Poor kids... no wonder they're having so much trouble.
Howard, the former Fort Worth student, said she never received tutoring after she left high school. She just kept retaking the test. "When I found out I didn't pass, it was a downer," she said.
See what I mean?
This might be another problem with healthcare. They're hiring people who have been rejected 14 other times?
I'm sorry but I don't see the difference in somebody who should have graduated TEN YEARS AGO and somebody that didn't graduate at all. I could take ANY test for TEN YEARS and eventually get the answers right. This is insane. And everyone so far is just dang happy about it. She did NOT graduate, She eventually (after TEN YEARS) got all the answers right. She was failed by gubmint skrool in which we invest a cajillion million dollars out of our own pockets. And everybody is just happy about this great success story.
Gawd, I'm going to go poke my own eyes out now. I just can't read any more about these success stories.
Been easier to just study and take the GED.
Perseverance is great, but if it takes you fifteen times to pass a TAAS exam I'm afraid you'll never advance beyond senator from Massachusetts, Kim.
You have a way with words. I liked the one about 'curry' and 'rice'. 8~)
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