NEW: Groups Rip “High Stakes” Standardized Testing in Schools
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Few people are aware of the devastating consequences that will follow from the Department of Education’s planned implementation in 2014 of a flawed “high stakes testing” requirement, according to several community and civil rights groups.
The groups examined the statistics from the latest standardized test results (known as the “NECAP tests”) for Rhode Island students. Charts and graphs presented by the groups at a news conference today suggested that the testing requirement will have an adverse impact on every community in the state.
Among the findings the groups released today, based on the 11th Grade NECAP math scores released two weeks ago:
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- 84% of special education students are at risk of not getting a diploma;
- 70% of all African-American and Latino students would not qualify for a diploma;
- More than two-thirds of students in most urban school districts (79% in Central Falls; 69% of Providence students; and 68% of Pawtucket students) would not get a diploma;
- In Barrington, one of the state’s wealthier communities and the town with the lowest percentage of students at risk of not getting a diploma, 13% of the students would still not qualify for a diploma based on their NECAP scores. In East Greenwich, 17% of the students would not gain a diploma;
- The Department of Education itself, though pushing high stakes testing on students, has failed to meet any of its own objectives for progress at the high school level, and met a total of only four out of 33 objectives among all grade levels.
The groups participating in the news conference included the Rhode Island ACLU, Rhode Island Legal Services, Rhode Island Disability Law Center, Tides Family Services, and Young Voices.
