Columnist Sandra Thompson: High Schools to be tested next

SANDRA THOMPSON is vice president/associate editor of the Las Vegas Sun. She can be reached at 259-4025 or on the Internet at [email protected]

MANY parents of high school juniors may be in for a shock. They shouldn't panic, but they should feel anxiety, state education officials say.

Notices have gone out in recent days to parents of about 6,000 juniors throughout the state, informing them that their sons or daughters didn't pass the state's high school proficiency exam.

That's a whopping 40 percent of the 15,000 kids statewide who took the new test, which was given in two parts -- math and reading. The number includes students who failed one or the other or both portions of the test.

What's even more disturbing is that the passing score was 61 percent. How many more would have failed if it had been set at 70 percent?

The state Board of Education plans to raise the passing score to 70 within the next two years. But education officials expected a higher-than-normal failure rate because it was a new test. The standards are higher, and many may not have adequately been prepared for the test.

The juniors still have four more tries at passing the test in their senior year. The question is, will they work harder and study more or will they just give up -- which means the atrocious dropout rate in the schools will go even higher?

And what will the high schools do? Will they provide remedial classes or extra tutoring? Some educators suggest summer school, but it's expensive and many people can't afford it.

Another disturbing statistic about the test is that 60 percent of African-Americans and 53 percent of Hispanics who took the test failed. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Mary Peterson doesn't see it as a race issue, but a socioeconomic one.

So doesn't that tell the school district that more attention -- and more money -- should be devoted to schools in lower economic areas? Shouldn't there be incentives to attract more quality teachers in those schools?

The proficiency statistics should be a wake-up call to administrators. Many high school students fulfill the basic math and science requirements and then take electives that often are just ways of filling time. Should we require more math and science classes and cut down on electives?

Many seniors have accumulated enough credits by their 12th year that they take only two or three classes. While there may be a need for some kids to work, education should come first. Seniors should be required to take a full day.

High schools can turn this into an opportunity. Track the kids who failed. Are they taking the appropriate courses? Take it a step further. Look at the teacher of the course. Is he or she doing a good job? Does he or she get the points across to the students? The bottom line is: Are the kids being taught properly? Can the teacher motivate the students?

We can't change parents and students' economic status. Some kids will never be motivated. Nor can we get some parents even remotely interested in their kids' education. But the schools can change from within. If the majority of a certain teacher's students fail, maybe there's a connection right there in the classroom.

In the past, the proficiency test has been a joke, some educators say. State Board of Education member Bill Hanlon says the bar has been raised. There are higher standards to meet.

Hanlon and Peterson say the test refocuses the attention on academics. That's as it should be. Now it's up to the individual school districts and high schools to refocus their attention, too.

High school counselors, many of whom have been relegated to schedule makers and attendance watchers, should work more closely with students, especially those who have failed the proficiency test, in choosing appropriate courses.

Schools should help pay for remedial instruction. Are there a few teachers who would volunteer to help two or three hours a week?

Of course, one solution is to tackle the problem in the earlier grades so that students who don't know the material aren't passed on to the next grade. Students failing in the elementary grades can't wait till high school to get extra help.

It will be interesting to see how many parents, as they get these notices, will be concerned and will contact the schools. It also will be interesting to see how high schools will respond to this challenge.

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Speaking of challenges, I recently spoke to Renae Notaro's third-grade class at Katz Elementary School. Lex Sylvester invited me to tell the class about newspapers. I enjoy speaking to classes, and always tell students they should use the newspaper to help them in school.

I encourage younger students to find a new word in the newspaper each week, look up its meaning and use it in a sentence to surprise their teacher. They can also challenge their classmates on whether they know the definition.

The Katz class liked that idea and began searching for words, but they also asked a lot of questions about newspapers. One student asked how long I had been in the business. I promptly replied that I had been working for 28 years. Then it hit me. That's almost 30 years!

But if that made me feel old, I was in for a surprise.

One little boy then raised his hand and asked, "Were you alive in 1912?"

1912?!

I told him no, but was curious to know why he asked.

"I wanted to know if you covered the Titanic for the New York Times."

Just for the record, I did not cover the Titanic.

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