5.09.2006

California Testing

According to a story on CNN.com, a California judge may stop the state from requiring high school seniors to pass an exit exam in order to graduate. Attorneys are claiming that the test discriminates against the poor. Despite the fact that I work in the testing industry, I am not making a judgment as to whether requiring a certain score on this test to graduate from high school is a good idea or not, but I do not think that the claim that the test discriminates against the poor is accurate. I am not denying that poorer students are likely performing worse than other students, but is it really the test that is discriminating? The article states that "kids who attend schools in large cities are far more likely to be taught by teachers who are not qualified or credentialed." It seems to me that it is not the test which is discriminating against these students, but rather that the education they are receiving is not adequate. If these students were taught by teachers who were as qualified as those in other schools, would the students do better on the test? Maybe they would not do as well as other students, but being taught my fully-qualified teachers would likely help these students to learn better, and therefore perform better on the exit exam.

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