New tests delayed by budget shortfalls

The 2013-14 school year is the first in which the Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE) isn’t requiring high school students to pass the Alabama High School Graduation Exam (AHSGE) in order to receive a diploma.

Malissa Valdes-Hubert, a spokesperson for the ALSDE, said the department is phasing out the graduation exam because officials don’t feel it is good test of what students need to know when they leave high school.

“We feel the ACT and the other tests are a better gage of their college and career readiness,” Valdes-Hubert said. “The graduation exam seemed to be memorization and regurgitation of information they could have learned two or more years prior to taking the test.”

In lieu of the AHSGE, the department was planning to implement four end-of-course exams this year.

However, due to budget shortfalls, only two tests in 10th-grade English and algebra are being given.

At Enterprise High School, less than 10 students are being offered the graduation exam this year.

These students would have to take the exam because they fall into a special population of students who couldn’t receive a standard diploma otherwise.

The ALSDE is currently working to find a resolution for students with similar circumstances across the state.

In addition to the AHSGE, the state department is also phasing out the Alabama Reading and Math Test, which has been previously given in grades three through eight.

The state is replacing them with a series of tests created by ACT, Inc.

ACT Aspire is replacing the ARMT+ in grades three through eight.

According to Valdes-Hubert, it’s up to the local school system as to whether these end-of-course tests affect a student’s grade.

In the eighth grade, students will take the ACT Explore, which helps show what concepts from the ACT that student is comfortable with or may need improvement in.

“It’s kind of a guide for students and their parents,” Valdes-Hubert said. “It’s not high stakes at all.”

Today’s students are also required to take a guided test on their career interests in the 10th grade known as ACT Plan, though that test is currently being phased out as well.

Alabama is now also requiring all 11th-grade students to take the ACT itself as a part of the statewide accountability system established in Plan 2020.

Because it is required, the test is offered for free to those students.

The final portion of ACT’s accountability tests will begin in February of 2014, as seniors across the state will take WorkKeys assessment.

WorkKeys is a job skills assessment system that helps employers select, hire, train, develop and retain a high-performance workforce.

This series of tests measures foundational and soft skills, and offers specialized assessments to target institutional needs.

Valdes-Hubert said the ALSDE is expected to spend about $14 million on assessments by the end of the school year, which is up from about $11 million the previous year.

The ALSDE will see some savings once the graduation exam is fully phased out, but will continue to spend more as new series of tests are implemented.