Lawmakers still working on math standards for high school seniors

CARSON CITY - Assembly Speaker Joe Dini said Saturday a tentative Education Committee decision against lowering high school graduation requirements in math may not add up.

Dini, D-Yerington, said more work is needed before legislators adjourn May 31 because several hundred seniors might be blocked from graduating this year by a standard that wasn't in line with courses they took.

"There's plenty of blame to spread around," Dini said, adding that it seems unfair to deny a diploma to students who took classes that didn't give them the math skills needed to pass the test.

Assembly Education Chairman Wendell Williams, D-Las Vegas, added Saturday that he still wants to help students who were never taught to the new standards and didn't know what they had to do to prepare for the exam.

But on Friday, his committee backed off from a plan to lower the math requirements, saying it would "send the wrong message" to students, teachers and parents.

A day earlier, the committee had agreed to lower the passing score on the math portion of a statewide proficiency exam from 61 percent to 57 percent.

The panel's action on Friday left nearly 500 seniors in jeopardy of not getting diplomas in June because of the tougher math standards.

Even if the math standard is lowered to 57 percent, nearly 1,000 other seniors who failed the math proficiency test in April wouldn't be helped. In addition, several hundred others failed both the math and reading sections of the test.

The intent of the original standards, adopted in 1997, "was to make a high school education meaningful - to signify that when you graduate from a Nevada school, you can read and write," said state schools chief Mary Peterson at the Thursday hearing.

Peterson added that that more than a third of the Nevada high school students who end up in the state's university system have to take remedial math or reading classes.

Four Education panel members initially voted against lowering the standards, saying that it would be a step in the wrong direction. It took until Friday night for the rest of the 13-member committee to agree.

"We sweated blood over this issue," said Assemblywoman Marcia de Braga, D-Fallon. She added that most committee members were uncomfortable at first with lowering the standards, but couldn't see any other way to save hundreds of students from failing.

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