Graduation Tests in Md. Given Early To Some

Thousands of Maryland high school seniors face a question worthy of a graduation exam: What comes first, the end of the course or the state's end-of-course test?

Under the state's testing policy, students are supposed to complete four courses before taking the corresponding graduation exams. But new pressure to get seniors to graduate on time has driven administrators in Montgomery and Prince George's counties to an unusual step: Schools are giving the state tests to some at-risk seniors several months before they finish the classes and again, if necessary, to give them a better shot at getting a diploma.

A state education official called the test-early, test-often approach "inappropriate." It is not clear whether the state has the power to stop it.

Yesterday, state Superintendent of Schools Nancy S. Grasmick made public a plan to allow some students to apply for a waiver to the testing requirement if they were not given enough chances for extra instructional help or if they face certain other hardships. The state Board of Education is expected to vote on the plan today.

The High School Assessments in algebra, English, biology and government are supposed to be taken at or near the end of those courses. This school year, for the first time, the state is requiring students to pass all four, get a combined minimum score or complete alternative academic projects to graduate.

But with one of every six seniors statewide in jeopardy of not graduating because they've failed or missed one or more of the tests, administrators are increasingly anxious to give them as many chances as possible to pass. As a result, some administrators are seeking to exploit what might be a loophole in state testing policy.

The potential loophole applies mainly to about 4,000 seniors who haven't taken one or more of the exams. By taking the tests early in the school year, these students will have more chances to pass. Those who fail twice will be eligible to complete an independent "bridge project" as an alternative.

Officials in Montgomery and Prince George's defended the practice.

"We don't want them to miss an opportunity," said Prince George's schools spokesman John White. About 1,200 seniors in the county haven't taken one or more of the tests. "If they waited till the end of the course, theoretically the last day of the school year, they would have missed the January, April and May testing opportunities, and we don't want to deny students an opportunity to meet the graduation requirements."

A Prince George's high school teacher, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared retaliation from his superiors, criticized the early-testing practice.

"It's very frustrating," he said. Students "want to do well on the test, but they are taking this test before they learn anything. . . . You're telling them, 'Do your best,' but deep down, you know it's really wrong."

William Reinhard, a Maryland State Department of Education spokesman, said he had heard "a couple of examples" of schools pushing to test students before courses were finished, but he declined to name the counties involved or say what consequences, if any, they would face.