Never Mind

It looks like Maryland wasn't serious about high school exams after all.

MARYLAND STATE education officials came up with a highfalutin name for a new path to high school graduation. But by any measure the proposal is a retreat from the noble idea of ensuring that a high school diploma means something.

For at least five years, Maryland students have been warned that, starting with the Class of 2009, graduation would depend upon passing state tests in four basic subjects. With some people clamoring about the political fallout of denying diplomas to students who failed, State School Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick blinked. She has floated a proposal -- "Bridge Plan for Academic Validation" -- that would allow students who repeatedly fail the state tests instead to complete a senior project. Criteria for the project are yet to be worked out, but Mrs. Grasmick says that there will no lessening of rigor and only a small number of students will qualify.

Pardon our skepticism, but how hard will a project be if it is tailored to students unable to pass tests that, quite frankly, are just not that demanding. They test subjects at the ninth- and 10th-grade levels. Local school systems, under tremendous pressure to pass students, would be allowed under the plan to design and administer the projects. That Mrs. Grasmick, a fierce champion for standards, backed down is testimony to the intensity of this pressure. It's no coincidence that her action comes as lawmakers, much to their discredit, threatened legislation to undercut the tests.

It helps no one to graduate students who can't read or compute sums. Exit exams, which have been enacted by 26 states, ensure that students have the skills a diploma signifies. They send a message to students that a diploma is something to be earned, and they force schools to do a better job of preparing students. Maryland politicians worried about the consequences of large number of students, who are likely to be minority or come from low-income families, not graduating should study states such as Massachusetts, which faced similar fears. By standing firm that state managed to increase the number of students passing the tests year by year. In Maryland, districts that are taking the tests to heart and providing support and resources are beginning to reap results.

With two years left to prepare students, Maryland should not throw in the towel. Maybe there are flaws in the testing program that need correcting, but the loophole proposed by Mrs. Grasmick would lead the state in the wrong direction. Surely, Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) must realize that his hopes for a better Maryland depend upon providing a genuine education to its youth.