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MN Dept. of Children, Families & Learning Releases Startling Stats

June 11, 2002: St. Paul, MN Of the 3,171 Minnesota high school seniors who took a last-chance-before-graduation basic standards test, over 1,900 failed, while just over 1,200 seniors managed to pass the tests. 200 more students failed the test this year than last year. The number of students who passed is about the same as last year. The students can take the tests again in the summer, which will be convenient, because according to officials, students who have a hard time passing the tests generally also have a hard time passing classes, meaning most wouldn't have enough credits to graduate anyway--and so would also need to attend summer school if they still wanted a diploma. In fact, out of 69,000 high school seniors, only 100 are expected to be denied diplomas just because they failed the tests. The other non-graduates have failed to meet at least one other graduation requirement, which means less than 0.15% of students don't graduate exclusively because they failed the Basic Skills Tests.--The Doc, Staff Writer

Independent Evaluation Places MN Basic Skills Test Necessity Rating At 0.15%

Editorial Board Commentary: The above article essentially shows that the Basic Skills Tests are UNNECESSARY. After all, the purported goal of the tests is to ensure that high school diplomas aren't given to those who are unable to accomplish the test objectives, yet, according to this, only 100 students a year, 0.15% of Minnesota's high school seniors, who fail these tests would graduate had we never started the tests. That means that the other aspects of high school already ensure that 99.85% of the people recieving high school diplomas possess the knowledge necessary to pass these tests--that means we can skip the test and still have a 99.85% effectiveness rate on this goal of making a diploma mean something. And 99.85% is an exceptionally high success rate for the government. This means we can eliminate the tests while still ensuring that only 1 in 690 students is able to get a diploma without possessing the skills necessary to pass the test. That sounds like a good enough success rate. Maybe if the money spent on these tests was spent on new text books and better instructional materials--which are severely lacking at most public schools, especially in Minneapolis, we could ultimately offer a better education for our kids. Now how's that for smart government?--Vinny's Education Coalition Editorial Board

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