Students face more remedial class time
Posted on Thursday, February 2, 2006
Starting this spring, Arkansas students will be accountable for their struggles on the End-of-Course Exams. Students who score below proficient on either the Algebra I, geometry or 11 th-grade literacy exams will lose credit for the corresponding courses unless they participate in a remediation program in the fall, according to rules put in place through the Arkansas Comprehensive Testing, Assessment and Accountability Program.
The change is significant, educators say, because it shifts a portion of the accountability burden onto students and parents. While school districts have faced sanctions if students do poorly on the tests, students have not previously faced consequences under the law.
In 2004, 47 percent of Arkansas’ 452, 036 students scored below proficient on the Algebra I exam, 53 percent fell short on the geometry exam and 55 percent were not proficient on the 11 th-grade literacy test. Arkansas Department of Education officials could not provide statewide figures for 2005 on Wednesday.
In Fayetteville, Bentonville, Rogers, and Springdale alone, 750 test-takers fell short of proficiency in Algebra I, 651 in geometry and 1, 028 in 11 thgrade literacy during the 2005 testing round.
Until now, the state required school districts to offer remediation programs to students who fell short, but did not require children to participate.
Some districts made the remediation mandatory.
Rogers High School Principal Bill Stringer said students who struggled on the 11-grade literacy exam forfeited half an English credit if they didn’t participate in remediation.
“If we are going to have this type of mandated testing, there needs to be some accountability with students and their performance,” Stringer said. “It puts pressure on the teachers, the students and the parents.”
But in Fayetteville, failing students have faced no sanctions for skipping its remediation program. Fayetteville High School Principal Randy Willison said that attendance in the remediation program was minimal as a consequence.
He fears the new requirement will create a “logjam” of teenagers who earned passing marks in their course work, but are stuck in remedial programs because of their struggles on the high-stakes tests.
It’s possible that within three years, some 11 th-graders who earned passing grades in their courses but failed the tests could be retaking Algebra I while enrolled in Algebra II and undergoing remediation in geometry.
“It’s just awful,” Willison said. “There’s a population of our students who will find it very challenging to make a passing grade in class and meet the standards.
“ They’ll barely pass the class with Ds, score below proficient on the exam and then they’ll be remediated to death. They may find that it’s just not worth it, and they may choose to just drop out.”
But in Bentonville, where struggling students have had to take a one-semester, non credit remediation course, officials say these interventions work.
Kay Jacoby, that district’s executive director of secondary education, said the percentage of students who scored proficient on the End-of-Course Exams rose by a minimum of 8 percentage points from 2004 to 2005.
“We thought it got their attention on the front end and provided a little extra incentive for kids to do their best,” Jacoby said.
“If they didn’t bring their Agame and were highly motivated, they knew what the consequences would be.” Springdale Superintendent Jim Rollins said that high-stakes testing is the way of the future in Arkansas, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In the 2009-10 school year, for example, state law will require students who fall short on the exams not only to participate in remediation, but also to retake and pass the tests in order to earn a diploma. “We are talking about minimal standards,” Rollins said. “We aren’t talking about rocket science here.”
To contact this reporter : jkrupa@arkansasonline. com
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