Where are the seniors parents? -

another galaxy perhaps?

Boyer:

Anytime you have a standardized test there will always be a population that does not pass it.

And since high school first came into being there have been seniors that do not pass.

So 8% statewide at risk is not that alarming, especially when this was the first class that HAD to pass tests. You should see that number fall as students come up through the system of tests and are prepared for them from middle school on.

I know my school, a city-wide, we only have a handful of students not prepared to graduate due to tests. Last number I heard was around 10.

But that was back in the beginning of the year, I don't know how that has changed since.

I am not at the high school level so forgive my ignorance but does "meet HSA requirements" include passing the test OR the bridge assignment? If the table I viewed is correct, 1/4 of City Students are not meeting the standard. Does this include the bridge projects or is this just the tests? Will this number continue to change this spring or have we met a deadline? 26% is not a few students. I have heard of the enormous number of hours teachers/staff have put into guiding students through the projects. Kudos to all of you! Having raised a large family, I am wondering the same the same as Boyer. Where are the parents of the 26% not meeting the standard?(besides blaming others) Teaching in the system, I know part of the answer but 26% ? Please, no more excuses. Further, if a parent is unable or unwilling to step up, when are we gonig to realize that kids can take responsibility for themselves at a very early age.We need to be teachers, guides, supporters, but not enablers. Who will do that a year from now in the work force? In a year will i be weeping for yet another child I taught who in now dead or in jail? We all need to do better! From pre-k on.Now!

Wise educator: Yes, this is HSA tests and Bridge combined. So, yes, it is about a quarter of the senior class in the city that's yet to meet the requirements. However: the data do not account for the 1,759 projects just submitted, to be graded this weekend.

Has anyone checked out the state of our high schools presentation made last fall? If you are concerned about 26% of the seniors not being able to graduate because of the high school assessments, then the roughly 40% of students who began high school four years ago being classified as "lost" should blow your mind...

I reiterate;I am not in high school but I feel very vested in "my" students as they move forward in their lives.As an elementary school person, you hope you have given your students a good start. Perhaps all grade levels need to meet together to analyze how and why things to do go according to plan. Anyway, @Concerned, are you telling me that only 60% of the senior class is still attending school and 26% of 60% are in danger of not graduating?

BTW, I just came in from my school where I witnessed four very young teens tackled and arrested on the corner for who knows what at 8:00 on a school night. But when they are not in school tomorrow ,it will be my problem to increase attendance!

I am tired of hearing about this mess. The Bridge Projects seem like a completely irrelevant indicator. Teachers are pushing their students to complete projects and probably helping them in ways that are inappropriate. The bridge results show nothing more than how much the teachers and school care about their students- am i wrong here?

I don't get your critique "still Believing?". You are assuming that teachers are inappropriately helping students, based on what? The high pass rates? That can be attributed more towards the nature of the project itself.

Working on one project is a lot easier to pass than one test on one day.

i guess we should assume that teachers everywhere are inappropriately helping students because I suppose that no student in Baltimore City could EVER achieve ANYTHING without someone helping them along or doing it for them right?

http://www.baltimorecityschools.org/Careers/Job_Opportunities/03_24_09_NetworkTeamLeader.asp

From someone on the front lines of the HSA test/Bridge Project issue, let me tell you that the projects are not easy but very time-consuming. The students who haven't yet met the standard have not tried very hard to do so. There are a few--yes, most special ed and ESL--who deserve exemption but most of the others who haven't met the requirement are just not in school or are ducking the help that they can get. There are ALWAYS students who don't graduate for a variety of reasons. The HSA is just the latest scapegoat in the process.

PowerPoint presentation, Board meeting 10-28 under the State of Our High Schools on the baltimorecityschools.org website; slide 20. Do the math...

Even if those 3,296 "lost" students include one who entered college early, 16 who died, regular dropouts and just plain missing folks, the 1687 who "transferred" strikes a curious thought? Are those the kids who joined the military? Sent to live with grandmothers in Alabama?

So, yes, of the 8440 that began four years ago, only about 60% were still active in schools, and of that active group of seniors only 60% of them had passed the HSAs....

I can't even begin to do the math on the percentage of kids who began as 9th graders four years ago and who will earn a diploma in May. Provided there isn't a "Project" frenzy in the next month, the data from that October presentation would suggest that 28% of kids who started high school four years ago will walk across the stage with a Maryland State Diploma.