Lawmaker blasts critics of high school math exams

Friday, May 28, 1999 | 9:32 a.m.

Raggio, R-Reno, added the Clark County Association of School Administrators was "at best ill-informed" in writing to Gov. Kenny Guinn to complain about the test.

"You should be focusing your efforts upon challenging your students, not challenging the basic test of their skills," Raggio said in his response to Barry Gunderson, head of the asssociation.

Raggio joined state schools chief Mary Peterson in noting that the math part of the test is several years old.

School districts "have had more than adequate time to align their curriculum and instructional practices to the expectations of the Courses of Study, and thus the high school proficiency exam," Peterson said in a letter also signed by David Sheffield, president of the state Board of Education.

The administrators' group had joined with parents, students, other educators and the American Civil Liberties Union in asking for fairness for students unable to pass newer, more difficult exams.

"How do you expect me to perform well on something that you have not taught me to do?" Las Vegas High School senior Jose Torres asked the Assembly Education Committee on Wednesday. "I'm taking trig and Algebra II. If you give me a calculus test, I'm not going to pass it."

Torres, the only student to testify, has passed the state proficiency exam, a requirement for earning a diploma. Although he's been successful, he wanted to speak on behalf of other Hispanic students who have not been able to earn the required scores of 61 in math and 70 in reading. The math test, he said, covers material many students in basic classes were never required to take.

It's an argument that's grown in frequency over the past school year, as students have failed the test in large numbers.

"The ACLU is not opposed to testing or high standards," said Gary Peck, executive director of the organization's Nevada chapter. "But students are actually being tested on subjects they were never required to take. What should be painfully obvious is that the rules have been changed midstream."