Concerns Persist for the Class of 2009

School Officials Plan Programs to Help Sophomores Meet Diploma Requirement

School board member Patricia O'Neill is thrilled that more Montgomery County high school students are receiving passing scores on the Maryland High School Assessment exams, based on data released this week by state education officials.

But she's also quite worried.

The root of her angst: The students who aren't making the mark on tests that, beginning in 2009, must be passed to earn a diploma in Maryland.

Each May, students in Maryland are required to take the HSAs in four subjects: algebra, English, biology and government. The exam has been given since 2002, but only became a requirement for graduation starting with this year's incoming sophomores.

In Montgomery, HSA scores have seesawed -- rising in 2003 and 2004, but declining in 2005. Last fall, educators predicted that scores would rise this year since many of the students knew they must pass the exams to graduate.

State officials released scores from three subject areas this week: algebra, government and biology. Results of the English exam will be released in the fall. Montgomery school officials said parents will receive information in the mail this fall about their child's performance on the exams.

Montgomery's results for 2006 mirrored trends statewide, with students' scores increasing for almost all groups. The school system saw significant gains in the percentage of special education and poor students passing the algebra exam.

Overall, 78.8 percent of students passed the algebra exam; 78.4 percent passed the biology test and 81.4 percent passed the government test.

Last year, 44.8 percent of the students eligible for free and reduced-priced meals -- generally an indicator of poverty -- passed the algebra exam; this year that percentage jumped to 62.4 percent, even as the number of test-takers grew. Among special education students, 28.7 percent passed the algebra exam in 2005, compared with 45.9 percent this year.

At the system's high schools, passing rates varied, with fewer than half the students at Albert Einstein, Northwood, Watkins Mill and Springbrook posting passing scores in algebra, but with more than 90 percent of students at Whitman and Churchill posting passing scores on the biology exam.

Brian Edwards, spokesman for the Montgomery school system, said special programs will be put in place at schools where significant numbers of students failed to pass the exams.

Minority students continue to make gains, but a gap between scores of African American and Hispanic students and their white and Asian counterparts remains. On the 2003 biology exam, for example, white students outscored Hispanic students by 39.6 percent; in 2006, the gap had narrowed to 28.7 percent. The gap between scores of white students and African American students on the biology exam was 35.2 percent in 2003; in 2006 it decreased to 29.5 percent.

Virtually all middle school students who took the algebra exam passed. Those results reflect the scores of students who are generally high achievers in math.

Edwards said the system will expand the intervention programs it currently offers to more high schools this fall. During the last school year, the school system conducted a pilot program at Kennedy in which students were offered extra help before and after school and during lunch. In addition, system officials spent $150,000 to fund a program designed to help high school students struggling with algebra.

O'Neill, who represents the Bethesda-Chevy Chase district, said that despite its gains, Maryland's largest school system must still work hard to ensure that all students receive diplomas.

For the past two years, O'Neill has served on a statewide task force wrestling with the issue of what will be done for kids who -- even with remediation -- don't pass the exams.

Although Montgomery schools have intervention programs in place, O'Neill is not convinced enough is being done. She also worries that parents might not be aware that the exams will determine whether students graduate.

"Come June of 2009, I don't know what we're going to do," she said. "I don't know how many kids aren't going to pass. I don't know if our remediation plans are going to be effective."

School officials acknowledge that it won't be an easy task. They plan a campaign this fall to remind parents and students that passing the HSAs are a graduation requirement for the Class of 2009 and beyond.