March 31, 2005 | OUR TOWN and THE WESTSIDE SPIRIT

The truth about education in New York: Our system is failing our children; and Joel Klein’s glowing and self congratulatory report (Guest OP-ED. March 17) is inaccurate and misleading. While the Chancellor (and State Commissioner Mills) point to an increase in graduation rates as proof that standards are rising, New York State’s overall graduation rate remains shockingly low: the state is ranked 40th in one study, 45th in another. Even more appalling, New York State’s African-American and Hispanic students have the lowest graduation rate of any statein the country! A disturbing 35.1% and 31.9% respectively!

Some of the explanation for the positive spin comes from good ole-fashioned Texas-miracle style data manipulation. New York State, for example, now uses a different data reporting system than they did in the past. It is impossible to compare the 2004 graduation rate with previous rates and claims that result from such comparisons smack of intentional distortion. Indeed, Commissioner Mills himself did issue a warning back in December when he noted that the “data cannot be directly compared to previous years because the improved data collection system [of the SED] collects data on more students in the cohort. ” But he conveniently dropped that caution in recent memos to the Regents and in press releases to the public.

In New York City, too, there was a distortion of the data. Chancellor Klein crows over rising graduation rates. But, he fails to mentions either the impact of 9/11 (which reduced the number of immigrant students entering the Class of 2004 as 10th graders by about 1000 students), or the introduction of the 8 Plus Program in September 2000 (which prevented several hundred low performing 8th graders from following their cohort group into high school).These two events significantly, and artificially, inflate the success rate of the 2004 cohort group.

There is also the issue of definitions: obviously who the SED counts in its data base is critical. For example, who is a dropout? In recently released data, the SED omitted from their database all 9th graders who left school before their second year in high school. Thus, the cohort group used by the state to determine its data is incomplete.

And there’s the language issue: here is how the SED extols its progress: “More students are taking Regents exams and more students are passing them.” Sounds impressive until one realizes that, of course, more students take Regents exams. All high school students are now required to take Regents exams to graduate. Before the tests were mandated, Scarsdale, Bronxville, and other school districts didn’t take Regents exams. Elsewhere, some students took the exam; many did not. Now everyone must take the tests and, not surprisingly, since more kids take the exams….more kids pass them. Passing, however, is not a sign of rising standards, particularly when it takes merely 28 out of 85 questions on the Regents math exam to pass.

Moreover, the implication that more diplomas means higher standards is bogus as well. Leaving aside the frequent charges of shoddy test construction and fraudulent scoring procedures (ELA censorship, high rates of failure on the math and physic regents), neither the State nor the City has produced evidence that shows the tests are reliable predictors of college or employment level performance. Indeed, if the tests are so reliable, why are NY state business leaders now calling for an additional test to demonstrate employability?

All this makes even more perplexing the State’s attitude towards the accomplishments of the schools belonging to the NY Performance Standards Consortium – a group of 28 NY State public high schools who developed and use a system of accountability known as performance assessment. Working with a more challenged population than average schools in NYC, these schools have devised a rigorous system of assessment that requires students to write analytic papers, research and defend original science experiments, write social studies research papers and apply mathematical concepts. Consortium schools have a much higher college-going rate (87.8% v. 70.1%) than New York City schools. Consortium students go to competitive colleges, do well academically and persist at rates higher than the national average.

It’s a shame the city and state aren’t rushing to learn from the experience of these schools rather than destroying them by insisting they change their instructional and assessment model to fit into a one-size-fits all Regents test model. Our legislators must act. We urge Assemblyman Steve Sanders and Speaker Sheldon Silver to protect our children and these exceptional schools by passing legislation that allows the work of Consortium schools to go forward.

Jane Hirschmann is the co-chair of Time Out From Testing, a statewide organization of parents, educators, community groups and unions. The organization is opposed to the use of high-stakes tests, where a single score decides promotion or graduation.