Pass Rate on Test Falls Short of Md. Estimate, Data Show

Maryland school officials proudly noted last week that more than 90 percent of students in the Class of 2009 expected to earn a diploma had passed one of four tests required to graduate. But testing data provided to The Washington Post by local school systems indicate that the number of students who have passed a test is substantially lower.

State officials, discussing the most recent results of the High School Assessments, said that of the 55,000 students projected to graduate from the Class of 2009, 51,000 had passed the algebra test; the remaining students will have two years and many more opportunities to pass.

Statistics gathered by The Post from 19 of Maryland's 24 jurisdictions, including all of those in the Washington region, show that about 42,700 students had passed the algebra test. Even if every student in the remaining jurisdictions passed the test, they would not add up to 51,000; moreover, the enrollment reported by the 19 districts exceeded 60,000.

State officials said they were not surprised by the findings. "There's a fair amount of imprecision in our numbers," said Ronald A. Peiffer, the state's deputy superintendent for academic policy. He and Leslie A. Wilson, an assistant state superintendent in the division of accountability and assessment, said jurisdictions had not compiled complete enrollment and passing figures.

"We're using 55,000 as a fairly accurate number of graduates because that's what we've had as an average for the last three years," Peiffer said. "We took a very long time to work through this year's data because we wanted to be as accurate [as possible] -- and we did not want to be overly optimistic about what the results would be."

Accurate data are vital to the policymakers considering a proposal that would allow students who had failed a test repeatedly to complete a project showing their knowledge of the subject. Accuracy also is important to state lawmakers debating the value of the tests.

But gathering the numbers has been slow and messy. State officials say they have no way of tracking individual students and have to rely on the jurisdictions for information. The data compiled from local systems is fraught with problems. Enrollment figures are impossible to compare among jurisdictions because some school systems count all juniors among today's ranks, including many who do not have to pass the tests; others are estimating how many will graduate.

So what should be a simple question -- "How many students in the Class of 2009 still have to pass High School Assessments in algebra/data analysis, English, biology and government to graduate?" -- has proven to be anything but simple.

"We're starting to get a lot of information, a lot of questions" from local school systems, Wilson said. "They're having trouble getting records because some of them are not collecting these things electronically yet. Some of them are on paper file."

Another problem with the data on passing is that the state hasn't counted students who might not have passed the test but who might get a minimum combined score that would allow them to meet the testing requirement; state officials say this total will substantially boost the number of students who are able to earn a diploma.

Moreover, the Class of 2009 actually numbers 65,000; the state's projection of 55,000 is based on 10,000 students leaving or dropping out in the next two years.

Peiffer said the 65,000 figure is too high. Some students included in that count are considered to be in the Class of 2008 -- they were students who were held back a grade, and they do not have to pass the tests to graduate. Others met the testing requirements in other states. Some students are in special-education programs that do not end with a diploma. Some students will transfer into the system; others will leave.