Eye On Boise

Luna, state board want to scrap science test as high school grad requirement

Aug. 13, 2010 9:18 a.m. • 6 comments

Idaho high school students would no longer have to pass a standardized test in science to graduate from high school, under a rule change pushed by state Superintendent of Schools Tom Luna and approved by the state Board of Education yesterday; lawmakers still must sign off on the change, which would take effect with the class of 2013. Luna said it wasn’t an accurate measure of how students are performing in science. Click below to read a full report from AP reporter Jessie Bonner.

State scraps science test requirement for students
By JESSIE L. BONNER, Associated Press Writer

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho is scrapping a rule that would have required high school students to pass standardized tests in science before they graduate, starting with the class of 2013.

Idaho Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna said science classes vary from district to district and students are only tested twice — in the 5th- and 7th-grades — before they are tested by the state in the 10th grade.

“When you only test them in 5th and 7th grade, that’s not enough,” Luna said Thursday. “We have no way of identifying who needs remediation along the way.”

State education officials believe the lack of testing may explain why fewer students were proficient in science than in math and reading on the Idaho Standardized Achievement Tests this year. Public school students are tested more frequently in those subjects.

The current system is not an accurate measure of how students are performing in science, Luna said, “not to the point that we would make it a graduation requirement.”

The state Board of Education agreed, voting this week to dump the rule requiring students to test proficient in science before they graduate — at least for now.

The board instructed Luna’s department to develop end-of-course assessments in science that students will have to pass in order to graduate, according to documents provided by the board. Those assessments would take effect for the class of 2017.

“We’re not removing the science test,” Luna said. “They just won’t have to demonstrate proficiency to graduate.”

That proficiency requirement was part of an effort to boost math and science requirements in 2007, ending a yearlong battle to raise standards that divided churches, educators and some parents. It required students, starting with the class of 2013, to take more math and science classes to graduate high school.

A similar proposal failed in 2006, in part because some groups, including the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, feared it would cut into religious training after school. Others feared children would have to scale back activities like band or art.

The temporary removal of the science test as a graduation requirement still has to be approved by lawmakers.

“It was a difficult battle when the increased high school gradation requirements were brought to the Legislature,” said Sen. John Goedde, a Republican who chairs the Senate Education Committee. “It’s unfortunate that we’re moving backward.”

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.

Six comments on this post so far. Add yours!

Phaedrus on August 13 at 9:47 a.m.
The dumbing down of Idaho education continues under the watchful eye of Tom Luna. Sad.
mtngardener on August 13 at 10:06 a.m.
So we continue to go backward instead of forward. They may be making a valid criticism of the test but where are the plans to quickly fix the problem. Without math and science proficiency our students cannot compete in the real world for well-paying jobs.
fortboise on August 13 at 10:40 a.m.
Wow. We’re not testing enough to have a proper evaluation, so we’re going to do away with the test.

I guess we don’t have a logic requirement for graduation, either?

And while the Board agreed to get rid of the test for 4 years, while they figure out how to come up with a better one, Luna says “We’re not removing the science test.They just won’t have to demonstrate proficiency to graduate.”

Funky.

When I taught science (ever so briefly, as a botany lab T.A. at the U of I), I wrote tests as part of the ongoing work. How can the state’s LEADERS in education tell us they need SIX OR SEVEN YEARS to come up with a suitable test for high school science?
WildWest on August 13 at 11:04 a.m.
Idaho’s GOP & Luna are Anti-Science..!

What are the qualifications for the people who decide these things? …. who are they ? ….what is there agenda for public education?

Luna and these groups have been adjusting standards for textbooks ensuring new texts are infused with ultraconservative ideals. Among other things, reinforcing the denial of global warming, evolution and downplaying all contributions of the civil rights movement.

Idahoans must review the Idaho legal statutes and confirm that a citizen review process be allowed to weigh in on textbook content and classroom programs.

Everyday Idahoans must pay more attention and demand public oversight to the Education department.

There is only time in high school science courses to teach what scientists consider the most accurate and reliable scientific information and explanations modern science possesses and students must be tested.

The anti-science Idahoans,are the people who believe that all the prehistoric bones discovered in this world, were planted by liberal scientists to make the case against the Bible, Idiots

The complete dumbing down of Idaho…is underway…it is amazing that no one with substance cares that our state will be full of ideological idiots…is that really the future everyday Idahoans want for there children?