Sketchy school rule needs change, if not ending

While voters may have little chance to assess Board of Elementary and Secondary Education members’ decision about awarding high school diplomas to students who don’t pass state exams to graduate, they will be able to comment on the emergent policy – for however long it lasts.

This spring, BESE narrowly approved an appeals policy for such students without exceptionalities, who otherwise wouldn’t graduate. All three of Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards’ appointees, who highly unlikely will return next year, plus Republican Holly Boffy and Democrats Kira Orange Jones, who face term limits, and Preston Castille voted in favor. Thus, only District 8 voters will have the chance to hold a member accountable, as Castille has given no indication he won’t run for reelection.

Most states don’t have end-of-studies exams students must pass to graduate, and of those that do they have an appeals process. These tests in Louisiana apply only to English, mathematics, and one of biology or (starting in academic year 2024) civics.

An attempt to allow this exception occurred last year, but limited in scope in response to concerns such as fewer than half of non-native speakers of English being able to pass the English LEAP 2025 exam, based upon the assumption that somehow something structural about the tests, or even the entire concept of testing, didn’t validly capture the knowledge base of all takers. That attempt narrowly failed, but then came back in this year’s vastly expanded version.

Testing to graduate originally came about as a reaction to a significant number of Louisiana students graduating that did extremely poorly on standardized higher education and military tests, displaying no mastery of skills generally accepted as part of successful diploma acquisition. Further proof that schools bear some responsibility for this is in the persistent significant differential proportions of students failing among districts with similar characteristics. For example, while three percent of seniors don’t pass statewide tests, some districts have much higher proportions, with Tensas (18 percent), Morehouse (17), Bogalusa (10), St. John (8), and Madison (8) having the highest. These districts have relatively high proportions of students in poverty which is associated with lower educational achievement, but no more than some districts on the low end in the cases of St. Helena (less than 2), East Carroll (2), St. Bernard (4), and Natchitoches (5).

Thus, the appellate addition serves as a way for flailing districts to avoid accountability. It also permits all districts to do the same in artificially boosting their proportions of claimed graduates. Not that the tests do all that much in any event as the score to pass is so low, at anywhere from 10 to 38 percent of the maximum score depending upon area. As further proof, an analysis of Louisiana’s public high school graduating class of 2021 revealed that, as determined by standardized college tests, out of the students who enrolled in a Louisiana public college or university that fall 41 percent required remediation in math and 25 percent required remediation in English. Indeed, roughly 46 percent of public schools have an “A” or “B” rating, while only 30 percent of their students can read at their grade level.

The proposed rule encapsulating the new policy, about which citizens may comment until Aug. 9 (without an online option to submit, which is an option that should be included if not mandated by future legislative action), isn’t that reassuring that it won’t cheapen diplomas. It doesn’t allow any failing student to appeal, with applicants having to demonstrate minimal performance on the ACT WorkKeys, eligibility for TOPS Tech Award (which has a low ACT score barrier), or on a standardized industry-based credential. It also does mandate that schools offer assistance to qualifying appellants, although it doesn’t force them to retake the failed tests during their senior year (they only can appeal at earliest at its beginning).

But, essentially, appeal success hinges on a satisfactory “make-up” portfolio presentation of undemanding standards. A school-approved topic would be covered by a research paper of eight to ten pages, fulfilled by product or service related to the research requiring at least 20 hours of work, documentation that reflects the senior project process, and its presentation to a panel of three to five adults from the community and school. A Department of Education rubric would be used by local educators to determine whether the project passes.

If having to have such a rule, several changes need making to it. First, while it does contain a reporting requirement as to how many appeals a district gives out past three percent of the cohort, it doesn’t set up a sanctioning structure to discourage high proportions. Second, it should require retaking the tests where students register deficient scores at every opportunity, which could remove necessity of some appellants. Third, it lists several factors such as the grade awarded for the course which the student did not attain the standard assessment requirement for graduation on the LEAP 2025 and the score achieved on each LEAP 2025 assessment for which the student did not attain the standard assessment requirement for graduation which judges can take into consideration for success of the appeal, but these should be quantified and add that the appellant must meet the minimum quantified standard on at least four for a successful appeal, plus drop as a criterion the vague “any other academic information designated for consideration by the LEA for appeal consideration.”

Yet ideally next year BESE should repeal this option, or the Legislature if BESE fails to act on this early in the year should remove this possibility by statute. Students who can’t graduate without this have other opportunities, such as through a HiSET or GED exam. Sacrificing educational quality isn’t worth a cheap attempt by districts to evade responsibility for their own poor performances.