LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Several education groups have asked the Kentucky Board of Education to delay its scheduled vote on new graduation requirements this week, urging board members to seek additional input on the proposed standards.
The board is slated to vote on revised graduation requirements during its meeting Wednesday in Frankfort. The proposal includes provisions requiring students to pass reading and math assessments in 10th grade, eliminating Algebra II from course requirements and mandating that students demonstrate transition readiness before graduating.
The new standards, if approved, are set to begin next year with incoming freshmen.
But many groups have cautioned the state education board from passing the new graduation standards without additional vetting.
On Monday, a coalition that includes the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, the Louisville Urban League and Teach for America’s Appalachia branch asked the board to delay its scheduled vote so it can further evaluate the changes and their impacts in classrooms across Kentucky.
The group asked the board to consider other states’ experiences in requiring exit exams and their impacts on classroom learning, supports for students who do not pass proficiency tests, professional development opportunities for teachers, and whether passing Algebra II helps students on ACT exams and in college.
“Based on empirical research in other states and nationwide, the proposal to implement exit exams, require transition readiness for graduation, and eliminate Algebra II as a foundation of learning could exacerbate gaps in student outcomes, thereby reducing Kentucky’s ability to improve in education overall,” the coalition said in a news release Monday.
Brigitte Blom Ramsey, executive director of the Prichard Committee, said she had not heard back from the state education board in response to the coalition’s request.
She said the board should examine why other states have started abandoning high-stakes testing before voting on the plan.
“Research shows that exit exams have done little to increase student outcomes, and they’ve actually created negative consequences for students most disadvantaged,” Ramsey told WDRB News.
Interim Education Commissioner Wayne Lewis, speaking to reporters Saturday, said he was “excited” about the proposed changes in graduation requirements and how they could make Kentucky’s high school diplomas more valuable.
“We literally set kids up for failure when we walk them across the stage, hand them a diploma and say good luck when we know that that kid is incapable of demonstrating even basic competence in reading and mathematics,” he said.
“That has to end,” Lewis added. “We will not continue with that. We’re going to raise the bar.”
The Prichard Committee and its coalition aren’t the only ones calling for the board to postpone Wednesday’s vote.
Shelby County Public Schools Superintendent James Neihof, who sits on the Kentucky Association of Schools Superintendents’s executive committee, said his organization supports the concepts behind the proposed graduation requirements but wants the state education board to take more time in considering the change.
Superintendents want to share more input for supporting students who fail the reading and math assessments, he said. Students who don’t pass are able to retake tests twice a year as juniors and seniors, according to the proposed graduation requirements.
“I think we all agree there's no such thing as throw away kids, so this idea they are just failures, we all know that won't work,” Neihof said. “We have to have a plan to respond to that.”
The Kentucky Education Association and Kentucky School Boards Association have also urged caution as the state education board’s scheduled vote nears.
Both groups are asking the board and the Kentucky Department of Education to gather more feedback from stakeholders before calling the proposed changes for a vote.
KEA President Stephanie Winkler said in her opinion, the new standards need more feedback from educators and students.
Removing Algebra II as a requirement could affect students’ scores on tests like the ACT.
“There’s a lot of teachers that are concerned that we’re mandating all students take the ACT, which is a test that predicts how well you’ll do in college, but yet an integral part of that test is you must have the foundations in Algebra II,” Winkler said. “And so by offering that Algebra II class now as an option, we’re putting students at a disadvantage when they’re taking that test.”
Winkler and KSBA also oppose the proposed reading and math assessments.
“As Kentucky and the nation are moving away from excessive, and expensive, standardized assessment, we now run the risk of repeating mistakes of the past,” KSBA Executive Director Kerri Schelling said in a statement.
“The very same students we are trying to better serve with more meaningful diplomas will be the same students left with no diplomas if we predicate graduation on passing high-stakes exams.”
Reach reporter Kevin Wheatley at 502-585-0838 and kwheatley@wdrb.com. Follow him on Twitter @KevinWheatleyKY.
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