How do you feel about the mandatory high school graduation test?
I live in Ohio and this year approx. 10,000 high school seniors in our state will not be graduating because they could not pass the mandatory graduation test. How do you feel about employing this test as a standard? Do many other states enforce this? Do you feel this is a helpful way to make sure that our nation’s high schoolers are getting a fair shake at an education and not just being passed through the system? Is test anxiety taken into consideration when these are put into the states’ education system?
People here are crying and saying the reason for the test is because of the high drop out rate in high schools across the nation. Others are saying the test is too hard, while even more others are saying that the test is at the level of a 7th grader.
Big controversy here and by the way…students can take this test up to 7 times. Not sure what happens after that magic number 7 though, or why 7 was decided as a good number for a cut-off.
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Tagged with: controversy • education system • fair shake • graduation test • High School Graduation • High School Graduation Test • high school seniors • high schoolers • high schools • Live 105 • Magic Number • states education • test anxiety
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I live in Texas where a similar test is enforced. I passed this test on the first try. Personally, I have mixed feelings about it. When the time came to take the test all of the teachers and faculty decorated the hallways with signs with sayings like "Sail through TAKS". This disgusted me. Teachers began teaching test taking tips rather than teaching the material. I remember my history teacher actually taking thirty minutes to teach us a trick to remember war dates specifically for this test. What I’m getting at is that they tend to teach for the test rather than just teaching. I feel that this actually harms students more than it helps. When I graduated, I soon realized that I could take a test, but that’s about it. College was so different that I had to recreate my study methods just because I was taught rhymes for memorizing instead of material. It is virtually impossible to measure what a student knows just by one test, even if they can take it 7 times. The test may pose some benefits, but I think there should be various methods to test students. A person cannot sum up thirteen years of schooling in just one test.
yo, i live in ohio too! (cincy) Personally, if you are talking about the OGT (which i took this year) I thought it was incredibly easy…it was really no sweat
i do think its a load of crap that we have to take this when we’re taking the SATs and all that stuff…but we had a Garman teacher come to our school (it was some foreign exchange program) and she said that the kids over there have three types of schools…the uber smart, the average, and the err…low school…kids dont have the oppurtinity to take their test similar to the OGT even twice…they just downgrade their education….so yeah-a little stuff to chew on
The test is not too hard, if you actually saw the darn thing you only need an education at the 6th grade level to pass it.
The test will prove if the senior knows how to read and do simple math.
In California there is such a high percentage of high school grads that cannot read or so simple math they set up remedial reading and math classes at the junior college.
This shows you how bad the public school system has become and how many teachers just rubber stamp kids through the system… if a teen has supportive parents and good study habits he can pass the test with no problems.
Well, there’s a few things at play. The No Child Left Behind Act has states rushing to get federal money. In order to get this money, they have to have standardized testing. The states are free to set the standards and cirriculum. The number of questions answered right to pass in Ohio hovers around 55%. So if you don’t pass, you probably deserve it.
Yes. And if they fail, back to class.
With increased courses being offered to students, number of school buildings themselves will need to be cut to allow all schools to be equal and to adequately use the federal funding. Students may have to commute thirty or more minutes to school each day. Although this will be an inconvenience, schools will provide transportation to and from school and after school activities.
The curriculum will be left to the states to decide but there will be nationalized tests to be sure that all states are providing education at an expectable level.
I don’t agree with them being able to take it up to 7 times…