Eleven percent in county failed to earn diploma

Terry Webster

Friday, June 16, 2000 | 10:57 a.m.

At least one in 10 members of the Class of 2000 left the Clark County School District without a diploma in hand, school district officials said today.

A preliminary report released this morning shows that 89.3 percent of high school seniors who have enough credits to graduate passed all three sections of the exam. Eleven percent failed.

The math portion of the test was the most problematic. Only 90.1 percent of seniors passed it. The passing rate for reading was 97 percent, and for writing, 98.3 percent.

This was the first year that higher scores were required to pass the proficiency exam. The passing score for math was raised from 61 to 64 in math and 70 to 71 in reading. Additionally, this was the first year for a more difficult math test made up entirely of word problems.

Because of the tougher test, the school district did not provide pass rates from previous years for comparison.

"Basically my reaction going into this was that is was a more difficult test," Superintendent Brian Cram said. "We expected that some students would have problems with it."

Cram said students who don't pass the test usually are doing poorly in their classes.

"When we look at those who are failing the test, they generally were on the lower end of academic achievement," Cram said. "But it is possible for students to have sufficient credits to graduate and not pass the test."

The school district also did not say how many students passed the test but did not have enough credits to graduate.

Socio-economic factors also play a role in students' success on the test, Cram said.

"What we generally see is some variation of scores usually based on the income level of students," said Cram.

One of the measures the district is taking to improve performance on the exam is ensuring that students are taught what is being asked on the math portion of the exam, Cram said. Making the test easier is not an option, he added.

"We agree with the tests and we supported the standards," he said. "Of course, our position is that one student failing the test is too many."

District spokeswoman Mary Stanley-Larsen said the pass rate for this round of students is expected to increase when the district issues a final report in August.

The updated report will show students who passed the test or portions of it during testing from June 12 to 15. It also will list the number of credit-deficient students who passed the test but took courses in summer school in order to meet credit requirements.

Additionally, the final results will provide information on ethnicity, gender and whether students are in special education or English language learners programs.