‘Wake-up call’ for valley’s students

Benjamin Grove

Thursday, March 25, 1999 | 11:09 a.m.

Just two months before graduation ceremonies, roughly 1,800 -- about 18 percent -- of Clark County's high school seniors have not yet passed the state's exit exam.

School officials on Wednesday released the latest round of results from the Nevada Proficiency Examination, taken by students in February. Students must pass the test to earn a diploma.

"This is a wake-up call," Assistant Superintendent Len Paul, who oversees high schools, said.

Students must score a 61 on the math section of the test and a 70 on the reading section to graduate. Students can take the test five times, beginning in October their junior year.

This year's seniors have two chances left -- the test is being given April 12-15 and again in June.

That means it's crunch time for students such as Saul Amaro. The Chaparral High School senior's math teacher told him on Monday that he was one point shy of passing the math section of exam he took in February.

"I had to leave school that day, I was just crazy that day," Amaro, who plans to be a police officer, said. "I want to graduate with my diploma, not just a certificate of attendance."

Amaro plans to attend after-school tutoring sessions planned at Chaparral and is taking time off from his part-time job at Vons to study.

"I want to get that extra question so I can graduate," he said.

The state Legislature in 1997 ordered that the proficiency exam be made more difficult as part of a push to raise standards in schools statewide.

The more difficult version of the test was first taken by juniors -- this year's seniors -- in April 1998. The State Board of Education also raised the scores students need to pass the test.

As a result, more students have been failing the exam. Last year at this time, less than 1 percent of seniors had not passed it.

"There is no doubt the change in the test has certainly made a difference in the overall result," Paul said.

About 1,600 of the 1,800 students who have not passed the exam failed the math section, district testing coordinator Judy Costa said. About 800 failed the reading section and slightly more than 600 failed both.

The newer version of the test is harder in part because the math section now contains "word problems" as opposed to computation problems. The word problems demand more sophisticated reasoning skills, Costa said.

"If you are not a careful reader, you might miss something," Costa said.

Language barriers also make the test difficult for some, educators said. About 90 percent of the Rancho High students who failed the exam are not native English speakers, according to Jack Burns, Rancho High counselor.

"ESL students are the ones hardest hit," Burns said.

State officials need to re-examine whether the new test is too difficult, State Board member Bill Hanlon said. Hanlon was on the team of educators who helped craft the state's new standards, which are now being reflected in the new test.

"The question is, 'When is it too much?'" Hanlon said. "We need to further review what people know and are expected to do."

State Board member Gary Waters said he was "alarmed but not surprised" by the test results.

"I don't think this test is too hard," Waters said. "It's an appropriate exit exam."

Waters added that the State Board is encouraging the Legislature to give schools more money to provide remedial classes.

Durango Principal Allen Coles said high schools probably need those extra remedial classes, especially in math.

Durango also is offering a weeklong after-school test-taking seminar before the April test. In addition, free seminars led by instructors from the Community College of Southern Nevada are available for students who want help.

"My feeling is that in years to come, we will do better as students begin to appreciate the fact that the bar has been raised," Coles said.

Testing coordinator Costa stressed that students who do not receive a diploma after failing the exam can still enroll at Nevada community colleges.

"It's not the end of the world," she said.

Sun reporter Kristen Peterson contributed to this story.