Experts Spar Over Graduation Tests

Members of the State House Republican Policy Committee took testimony Wednesday morning on a proposal to require all Pennsylvania high school students to pass proficiency may have left the hearing more confused than ever before. Pa Secretary of Education Gerald Zahorchak was among the first speaker. He outlined several reason why the state need such tests and why the law should not be offensive to teachers and school districts. A parade of union members and superintendents followed that systematically refuted every one of his points. Zahorchak says a recent study shows 70% of the jobs that will be created in the future will require some level of post high school education. A superintendent from a rural district pointed at tat much of the remaining 30% may be in his district where farming is a way of life. Zahorchak pointed to a Penn State study commissioned by the legislature that shows only 18 districts were adequately testing seniors before graduation. A Superintendent for the center of the state noted the information was requested when teachers were away for the summer and the researchers never gave them a matrix to use when reporting their standards. Zahorchak refuted claims that local control would be lost to the state by noting that districts could either use a battery of state tests, the PSSA test or a state approved local test. He says the proposal even forces the state to pay half of the cost of evaluating those local tests. Pennsylvania Association of school Administrators Executive Director Stinson Stroup says it is still unclear what will be tested and Pennsylvania State Education Association Treasurer Gerry Oleksiak asked how much it would cost to have those tests validated. He says the question is, “half of what?” He says the number could still be so high tat some districts will not be able to afford to offer local tests. Other complained that the test would be unfair to those students that do not test well but perform well on other forms of evaluation. Under the proposal, the testing requirement would begin with the class of 2015. Those students are currently in the 6th grade.