The Role of End-of-Course Exams and Minimum Competency Exams in Standards-Based Reforms

Abstract

Abstract[Excerpt] Educational reformers and most of the American public believe that most teachers ask too little of their pupils. These low expectations, they believe, result in watered down curricula and a tolerance of mediocre teaching and inappropriate student behavior. The result is that the prophecy of low achievement becomes self-fulfilling. Although research has shown that learning gains are substantially larger when students take more demanding courses2, only a minority of students enroll in these courses. There are several reasons for this. Guidance counselors in many schools allow only a select few into the most challenging courses. While most schools give students and parents the authority to overturn counselor recommendations, many families are unaware they have that power or are intimidated by the counselor's prediction of failure in the tougher class. As one student put it: "African-American parents, they settle for less, not knowing they can get more for their students. " This paper has not undergone formal review or approval of the faculty of the ILR School. It is intended to make results of Center research available to others interested in preliminary form to encourage discussion and suggestions. The Role of End-of-Course ExamsWorking Paper 00-09 Page 2Let us send a signal out to the world that the days of undereducating our young people, the days of underestimating our young people are over.--Hugh Price, President of the National Urban League, quoted in Education Week., July 14, 1999 1 I. THE PROBLEMEducational reformers and most of the American public believe that most teachers ask too little of their pupils. These low expectations, they believe, result in watered down curricula and a tolerance of mediocre teaching and inappropriate student behavior. The result is that the prophecy of low achievement becomes self-fulfilling.Although research has shown that learning gains are substantially larger when students take more demanding courses 2 , only a minority of students enroll in these courses. There are several reasons for this. Guidance counselors in many schools allow only a select few into the most challenging courses. While most schools give students and parents the authority to overturn counselor recommendations, many families are unaware they have that power or are intimidated by the counselor's prediction of failure in the tougher class. As one student put it:"African-American parents, they settle for less, not knowing they can get more for their students." Consequently, the bulk of students who do not aspire to attend selective colleges quite rationally avoid rigorous courses and demanding teachers.When teachers try to set high standards, they often get pressured to go easy. The following story is from southern Texas in the early 1980s. This story is not an isolated example. Thirty percent of American teachers say they "feel pressure to give higher grades than students' work deserves." Thirty percent also feel pressured "to reduce the difficulty and amount of work you assign."9 The Ro...

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“…In many cases, the content of the high school PSSA exam was reading and mathematics material that students had learned in eighth and ninth grades, despite the exams being conducted while students were in the 11th grade (Murphy 2015). This means that whether intentional or not, the PSSAs had elements similar to other state assessments and were not necessarily assessing material that students planning to attend college would be exposed to later in high school (Bishop et al 2000).…”

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