How Wrong Can an Editorial Be?
Michelle Fine, Distinguished Professor of Social Psychology and Urban Education
The Graduate Center, CUNY

Your editorial, "Educational Standards Under Assault," is filled with misinformation. To be succinct:

l. The New York State requirement that students pass five Regents examinations in order to receive their diplomas is NOT serving inner cities well. To the contrary, the collateral damage of this single, high stakes requirement is massive, particularly in Black and Latino communities. The New York Times has reported on a number of lawsuits brought by Advocates for Children because of improper discharge rates from urban schools, the influx of under age adolescents into G.E.D. programs (14, 15 and 16) and the dramatic spike in drop out rates. Even the New York City Department of Education has acknowledged that the recent rise in drop out rates is associated with the introduction of high stakes examinations.

2. Private schools in New York State have been given explicit permission to NOT take the Regents examinations. Why should it be the case that what's good for the rich is not available to the rest of the state?

3. The schools involved in the Performance Assessment Consortium have been reviewed by a number of national scholars, and then systematically by Commissioner Mills' Blue Ribbon Commision. This Commission found these schools are educating students toward rigorous standards, with low drop out rates and high college going rates. We encourage you to read the original report, rather than simply reproducing the Commissioner's interpretation of the report. Unfortunately Commissioner Mills has systematically misrepresented the Blue Ribbon Commission report.

4. Indeed schools in the Performance Standard Consortium vary, but any school included in the Consortium has agreed to educate toward state standards, with a rigorous matrix of student examinations and exhibitions to determine that they have mastered the standards. Further, each school has agreed to participate in an external evaluation by other educators, community members and university faculty. These schools sign onto a form of external accountability amd public transparency not at all evident in the Regents examinations.

5. While the 28 schools in the Performance Standard Consortium have extremely high rates of students with special needs, English Language Learners and students raised in poverty, these schools have been recognized by the Annenberg Foundation, Gates Foundation and a host of national awards for their low drop out rates, high graduation rates and high college going rates.

At this point in history, there are dozens of states (26, at most recent count) that rely upon multiple measures to assess students readiness to graduate. Psychometricians agree that no single test should serve as a final arbiter of graduation. Single high stakes tests assure a swollen drop out rate, not accountability.

New York State has not "moved to the forefront" of any education movement -- except perhaps to the forefront of the drop out line. Today, NY ranks 45th among states in graduation rates, with graduation rates of less than 40% for Black and Latino students.

A consortium of university professors across the state have publicly volunteered our services in conducting a public, state-wide assessment of students in Performance Assessment Schools compared with those in Regents Schools to determine differential drop out, persistence, graduation and college going rates. For years, the Commissioner has refused to authorize such a study.

If State Legislators care about quality education and graduation rates, if they believe that students in poverty should receive the same opportunities as students who attend private schools, they should extend the waiver. Then New York State would move to the forefront of quality education and quality assessments for all.

Michelle Fine, Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Urban
Education
The Graduate Center, CUNY