Graduation Tests in Md. Given Early To Some

"The High School Assessments are designed as end-of-course exams. So it's inappropriate for kids to take them before they're passed," Reinhard said. "There may be the best of intentions in having kids take them, but that's certainly not the way the system was designed."

The Code of Maryland Regulations says, "To be awarded the Maryland High School Diploma, all students . . . shall take the Maryland High School Assessment for algebra/data analysis, biology, English, and government after the student completes the required course." In practice, many students take the tests in the spring, a few weeks before the courses end.

In Virginia, where Standards of Learning exams must be passed to graduate, students take the tests a few weeks before the courses are complete, said Paul Regnier, a spokesman for the Fairfax County school system. The District does not have graduation exams.

White said the wording of the Maryland regulation allows leeway.

"COMAR says students will take it at the end of the course, but it doesn't prohibit them from taking it any sooner," White said.

In Montgomery, about 1,300 seniors haven't taken one or more of the tests. Faculty at Einstein High School in Kensington gave the graduation exams in October to seniors who were "six, eight weeks" into the year-long courses upon which they were being tested, said Principal Jim Fernandez. The students are among about 100 seniors at Einstein, out of a graduating class of about 370, who have not met the exit standard.

Only a handful passed the October exams, Fernandez said. But the main goal was to have the students tested.

The scenario reflects the intricacies of the diploma requirement. Students can fail the tests but meet the standard by completing a bridge project. However, a student can start a project only after taking a test and submit the project only after taking and failing the test twice.

At Einstein, Fernandez said his strategy is to have students take the test once in October and again in January -- about halfway through the courses. The students will simultaneously start work on independent projects. By March or April, they will have passed the test or submitted a project.

"We're doing this for the kids," Fernandez said. "It's an insurance policy."