Students Struggle with Alternative Graduation Test

As many seniors face the possibility of not graduating this year, state Department of Education officials promised special summer remediation programs for students who failed New Jersey’s revamped second-chance diploma test.

At the May 19 State Board of Education meeting, state education officials reported that thousands of students did not pass the alternative graduation test, the Alternative High School Assessment (AHSA), thereby jeopardizing their chances for graduating.

On their third try in March, 16.3 percent, or 1,864 students, passed the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA) for mathematics, and 29.9 percent (1,531 students) passed the language arts portion of the test.

New Test Unveiled Students who fail the HSPA three times can receive a diploma by passing the Alternative High School Assessment. The AHSA replaces the Special Review Assessment, which was widely criticized for a lack of rigor; last year, 96 percent of students taking the Special Review Assessment passed. Deputy Education Commissioner Willa Spicer said state officials were concerned about the lack of state oversight of the Special Review Assessment process.

This year, an outside firm – not the students’ teachers – graded the new second-chance graduation test.

AHSA exams are evaluated by two scorers; if they disagree, answers are checked by a third scorer.

Over the past several weeks, the state Department of Education rechecked a portion of the failing exams – 3,015 math scores and 1,915 language arts scores – from the AHSA given in January. The state found 15 percent of the students (643 students) who took the language arts section of the AHSA passed it, while 37 percent of the students (3,530) passed the mathematics portion.

Students may re-take the AHSA this summer. Besides offering summer remediation such as online tutoring, state education officials said students who present other evidence of literacy or math proficiency may appeal to the department. Guidelines for the appeals process will be distributed to the local districts, Deputy Commissioner Spicer said. However, state education officials said they will not revert to the previous method of allowing teachers to score the test.

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