Blame it on the computer
Maryland high schools had a lot of new responsibilities this year involving the entry of student data into computer systems so that High School Assessment pass rates could be calculated.
Not surprisingly, there were mistakes.
At Baltimore School for the Arts, Principal Leslie Shepard was horrified to read in The Sun yesterday that only 67 percent of her seniors have met the HSA requirements. In fact, she says, only one of 80 students has yet to meet the minimum combined passing score. But it turns out that the school did not correctly enter computer codes to indicate that students who transferred from out of state and private schools were exempt from testing. In addition, the pass rate didn't reflect the fact that seniors who took Algebra 1 in middle school had already passed the algebra test before starting high school.
The chart that ran in The Sun did not include Thurgood Marshall High School, Maritime Industries Academy and the Central Career Center at Briscoe because the state had omitted them from its list of city schools showing their pass rates for seniors. It seems that school personnel did not enter computer codes last spring to indicate that their juniors had been promoted to senior year. Consequently, state records incorrectly showed that the schools did not have anyone in the senior classes. Oops.
A murkier issue is a 600-student discrepancy in Baltimore's senior class enrollment. The city's records show the system has 600 more students in the class of 2009 than the state's records do. Part of the problem, again, may be who gets counted as a senior. Officials from MSDE and BCPSS say they'll be comparing databases in the coming days.
When rates are recalculated, we'll report the correct ones.
Baltimoresun.com's 
Comments
So if you go to a private or parochial school for middle school and then a MD public school for high school you don't need to pass the HSA's to graduate (per BSA's low numbers)? Can you explain to me how that makes sense?
Posted by: a parent | October 30, 2008 8:02 AM
The discrepancy in the stated size of the senior class will be a critical issue to examine, in judging the impact of the HSAs on graduation. BCPSS's presentation this week showed 3,984 seniors but MSDE's definition of the city senior class is 3,396. MSDE said they were going to count only those seniors "on track" to graduate. If the state subtracts a substantial number of students from the senior cohort, the percentage of HSA-passers will look higher. We need full transparency to understand why those 600 students were not counted as seniors. And, if the same pattern occurred in the other school districts. What criteria are being used by the state in establishing these cohorts?
Posted by: Bebe Verdery | October 30, 2008 8:56 AM
A parent: If a student transfers midway through high school from a private school or a school out of state, he/she doesn't have to retake the classes that are subject to the HSA and therefore is exempt from those tests. So the most common scenario is a student who transfers after freshman year and has already taken Algebra 1.
Posted by: Sara Neufeld | October 30, 2008 10:48 AM
It seems like years of handing out diplomas to seniors who haven't met graduation standards is finally catching up with us. I taught English IV last year (a graduation requirement) and several students who failed my class (despite my interventions to get them to pass) were given diplomas anyway, simply because their parents finally came up to the school with a sob story. This year I'm back in English II, working on getting current HSA test takers to pass on the 1st try, thankfully. These seniors need to feel real accountability, it's just a shame the system(s) can't seem to get the numbers straight. Audit the schools, find out what credits were actually earned, and uncover the real graduation problem in Baltimore.
Posted by: Brandon | October 30, 2008 11:05 AM
Or how about the senior that was in my geometry class 1st semester last year, a class typically taken by 10th graders. She was absent for most of the 1st semester and I had weekly contact with her father and administration. When she failed for the semester administration requested that she be given a work packet to help her pass. I printed out worksheets relating to the entire course of study and gave her several weeks to complete it. She turned it in with less than 10% finished.
In May I was asked again to give her a packet (remember, this class was a semester long class that wrapped up in January). Again she did not complete the packet. However, she also graduated. Administration was told by North Ave that she had to receive a diploma, at least that was the story that they were telling the teachers.
This was at the same school that Brandon teaches at.
Posted by: baltimore city teacher | October 30, 2008 12:41 PM