Groups Sue to Stop High School Exit Exam in Massachusetts, Claim Discrimination

AP ^ | 9-19-02 | AP Stringer

[Pharmboy]

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) - Lawyers for six students who failed an exam required for high school graduation sued the state Thursday, claiming the test discriminates against minorities and the poor. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Springfield, also claims the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System is unreliable and unfair.

The six students are in the Class of 2003, the first required to pass the exam's English and math portions to graduate. Students have five chances to pass, beginning in their sophomore year.

Half of Hispanic and 44 percent of black high school seniors had not passed after three tries, compared with an overall failure rate of 19 percent according to the state Education Department.

"Instead of fixing struggling schools, the state instead opted to enact a high-stakes exam that effectively has punished, sacrificed and abandoned the students that were really the ones that needed the education the most," plaintiffs' attorney Tom Frongillo said.

The lawsuit seeks class-action status - the first such challenge in Massachusetts - for black and Hispanic students, as well as students with limited English and disabilities, vocational students and students from the Holyoke school district. One students in the lawsuit is Hispanic and five are black.

Four of the plaintiffs attend Holyoke schools, where students have ranked last in the state on some tests. Only 37 percent of the Class of 2003 passed on their first try; that rate rose to 53 percent after the second try.

The lawsuit was filed by representatives of the Center for Law and Education, the Multicultural Education, Training and Advocacy, and the Boston Bar Association's committee for civil rights.

Defendants included the state Board of Education, the state Department of Education and Holyoke city schools.

Education Department spokeswoman Heidi Perlman said the lawsuit was expected.

"Every state that has ever instituted a high-stakes test as a graduation requirement has been challenged in court," she said.

A similar test in Texas survived a federal court challenge in 2000 by a group of minority students who claimed the test had a "discriminatory effect" on minorities.

AP-ES-09-19-02 1134EDT

[Pharmboy]

Lawyers and aggrieved "victimized" minorities are always a potent mix. If these kids studied more I'm sure they'd do better.

"Waaaaaaa...it's the test's fault. Waaaaaaa."

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Also here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/753565/posts

[verity]

- Lawyers for six students who failed an exam required for high school graduation sued the state Thursday, claiming the test discriminates against minorities and the poor the ignorant.

[Gorzaloon]

"Waaaaaaa...it's the test's fault. Waaaaaaa."

More like "It will blow the whole Education Industry Scam"!

[Pharmboy]

I did two searches with keywords and it didn't come up. Sorry 'bout that.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Well it WAS the test's fault. The English should have been Ebonics and the math should have accepted 2 x 2 = 5 (close enough).

[RANGERAIRBORNE]

We have pretty much the same problem in Alaska. Our schools are failing at everything but basketball, and the Legislature mandated a "basic skills" exam in order to receive a diploma for High School. Of course, the results the first year were awful, so the "educators" did the only thing they know HOW to do- they "dumbed down" the test! Unfortunately, it is still not dumb enough, as results have shown, and it will almost certainly be abandoned because of the light it sheds on what the NEA is really doing in our schools.

By the way, we spend plenty of money per pupil- so that's NOT the problem.

[jiggyboy]

Damn those six Asian and Jewish plaintiffs...always pissing and moaning about how academic tests are discriminating against them. </sarcasm>

[Constitutional Patriot]

Of course it discriminates...against those who are not qualified to graduate highschool.

[Tony Niar Brain]

These people aside, I have had a major beef with the idea behind making the MCAS both an assessment test and a graduation requirement from day one.

The goal of using standardized tests as an assessment is to obtain an accurate picture of what students are learning. As with any scientific study, to get an accurate picture, one must observe the system (MA public education) with as little disruption to the system as humanly possible. Otherwise, your findings will be distorted and unreliable.

Making the same test a graduation requirement defeats the purpose of using it as an assessment. Course curriculums will necessarily shift to accomidate the material inside tests like the MCAS, just as courses must prepare students for the SATs. In effect, they are changing the system they wish to at the same time observe. It's nuts, I tell's ya.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

No problem!

[gueroloco]

Exactly. Public schools, with rare exception, are a costly waste of resources. They churn out hordes of functionally illiterate druids yearly for the fast food industry. Sure the test "discriminates" against them- they're stupid. They are given 5 chances to pass, and they still fail? What where they doing for four years? Someone failed them by not teaching them the simple rule that the world does NOT owe them a living, that success requires at least minimal effort and some personal responsibility. They proudly carry on the tradition of welfare "helplessness" , and we'll probably have to support these shameless/prideless parasites for the rest of their lives. Sorry, but willful ignorance doesn't wash with me.

[Dante3]

Sept. 18 "Mallard Fillmore" comic:

The class of 2002's SAT scores are in, and Asians again outscored whites.

Does this mean that stuff about SAT being a "culturally biased, Western, Eurocenric exam" is:
a. another tired, unexamined piece of "conventional wisdom."
b. another lame liberal excuse.
c. a prodigious pile of penguin ploppings.

The answer is: d. all of the above

[mondonico]

"Instead of fixing struggling schools, the state instead opted to enact a high-stakes exam that effectively has punished, sacrificed and abandoned the students that were really the ones that needed the education the most," plaintiffs' attorney Tom Frongillo said.

Duh! Of COURSE these are the students who "needed the education the most." By keeping them in school (i.e., not graduating), this test makes sure they GET that education.

This is one dumb lawyer.

[SupplySider]

This is ugly racism. They want a court to rule that blacks and hispanics cannot pass a basic exam!

[LouD]

Course curriculums will necessarily shift to accomidate the material inside tests like the MCAS, just as courses must prepare students for the SATs.

Apparently, that hasn't happened here, huh? What is wrong with "teaching to the test" if the test embodies the information the teacher is supposed to be conveying in class? I realize that this might interfere with self-esteem sessions, lessons on life skills like applying a condom to a banana, exploring alternative lifestyles in a value-neutral way, and other such liberal blather, so here's a novel idea

Maybe the damned teachers should just stick to the damned curriculum that they are supposed to be teaching, and the damned parents could shut off the damned TV long enough to ensure that their dumb-assed, five-time-failure-of-a-moron-level-test kids did their homework.

If those two things happened, then I'm guessing almost everyone would pass on the first test.

[Tao Yin]

Discrimination against the stupid maybe.

[monday]

"In effect, they are changing the system they wish to at the same time observe. It's nuts, I tell's ya."

It's about time something changed the system as it was FUBAR before. Any change has got to be a change for the better.

[Pharmboy]

Yeah--I had seen that one in the paper and thought it was a bullseye. The other proof against "cultural bias" is that Hispanic kids and American Indians do better than black kids: even when the Spanish kids aren't born here.

The blacks should spend less time complaining about discrimination and more time hitting the books--they would improve significantly.