Funding Alert

NJ has long boasted about having the nation’s highest high school graduation rate. This year that could change.

Last June, the NJ State Board of Education endorsed tougher high school graduation standards and exit exams. This September as schools reopened, the NJ Department of Education (NJDOE) issued new guidelines that will limit use of the SRA, the Special Review Assessment that has provided an alternative pathway to a diploma for over 10,000 students in recent years, including one of every three urban high school graduates.

Educators in both urban and suburban districts have raised concerns that the new guidelines could have a negative impact on NJ graduation and dropout rates.

Under the new system, schools can give the SRA only during two, three-week “administration windows,” one in January and another in April. Students will have fewer opportunities to pass the SRA’s performance assessment tasks, and the scoring of those tasks will be removed from local schools to regional centers managed by Measurement, Inc., the state's testing vendor. (NJDOE documents indicate that the state will pay Measurement, Inc. more than $1 million over the next two years to manage SRA scoring that was previously done in-district.)

The new procedures, which are summarized on the NJDOE website at High School Statewide Assessments Special Review Assessment (SRA), are a response to criticisms that the SRA’s local scoring and heavy use in some schools had made it a “lower standard” for high school graduation. However, the new guidelines reject the major recommendations of the SRA Advisory Committee that was convened after the State Board voted in March 2008 to retain but revise the SRA as an alternative pathway to graduation.

The Advisory Committee recommended that NJDOE use an external audit system to identify problems with local SRA scoring, especially in high-use schools and districts, and take corrective steps where problems were found. But the Committee also proposed that where the scoring was found to be reliable, it remain at the school level so that the SRA’s cycle of school-based instruction—testing—feedback—more instruction could continue to give students multiple opportunities to show proficiency. The Committee also recommended four, three-week windows spaced throughout the year, instead of the two provided in the new guidelines.

Another change is the uncertain availability of the SRA in multiple languages. Previously, the SRA Performance Assessment Tasks (PATs) have been available in as many as ten languages, unlike the state’s standardized High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA), which is available in English only. This year, NJDOE said it cannot guarantee continuation of this practice for both budgetary and test security reasons, although it “hopes” to make PATs available in Spanish.

It is unclear how many students will be affected by these changes or what the overall impact will be on dropout and graduation rates. But it is likely to be significant. Last year, over 11,000 students used the SRA to satisfy state graduation standards, about 12% of all NJ graduates and 33% of urban graduates.

Some districts will have trouble administering the SRA to all eligible students in the allotted administration periods. In 2008, according to state figures, about 800 Newark students graduated through the SRA, about 600 in Jersey City, 450 in Paterson, and 300 in East Orange. Adult schools and other programs for “at risk” students will also be affected. Moreover, with nearly 60% of SRA graduates coming from non-urban districts, the impact will be felt statewide.

Response at recent NJDOE information sessions indicated that many districts anticipate difficulties serving SRA students under the new guidelines. School calendars, student schedules and staff assignments were largely set before the new procedures and dates were made available. To cite one example of potential problems, the target date Measurement, Inc. submitted to NJDOE for reporting SRA scores from the first administration window in January was April 30. This is several weeks after the second administration window in early April is over, which means students taking the test in January would not know if they passed the first time before the second chance has come and gone. There would also be no chance for individualized supplemental instruction based on the results of the first administration.

While there clearly have been instances of SRA misuse and overuse in some schools, many criticisms have been based on misinformation. For example, the SRA is not, as has sometimes been claimed, a locally-made “backdoor to a diploma.” The SRA’s performance tasks are created by the same company, Measurement, Inc., that develops the HSPA. Both cover the same curriculum standards and skills. It’s the reliability and consistency of the school-based scoring and local administration of the SRA that have been at issue (See NJ’s SRA: Loophole or Lifeline.)

To graduate, SRA students must remain in school, pass all required courses, including the increased requirements mandated by the State Board last June, and meet local requirements for attendance, community service and other provisions. Many educators view the SRA as an incentive to stay in school for students who might otherwise drop out after scoring poorly on the HSPA. Pushing these students out of school without providing better options and supports for them to graduate would have negative consequences for everyone.

Advocates and educators are continuing to press for changes in the guidelines that would preserve a viable alternative pathway to high school graduation for NJ students. This includes adding a summer administration window for the current SRA and developing improved performance assessment alternatives as the state moves to replace the HSPA with new “end-of-course” exams. Comments and suggestions for revising the SRA guidelines can be directed to Education Commissioner Lucille Davy (lucille.davy@doe.state.nj.us) and/or Deputy Commissioner Willa Spicer (willa.spicer@doe.state.nj.us).