Exit Exam Gets Mixed Reactions Public Hearing Set For Monday On First Draft Of High School Graduation Standards

Determine the payment required on a loan. Compute the area of an irregularly shaped room. Understand chemical reactions. Analyze the causes and impact of the Great Depression.

Those are just a few of the things public high school students in Idaho would be expected to know before graduation, under a 53-page set of exiting standards proposed by the state Board of Education.

The board will hold its seventh of eight public hearings on the first draft of the standards at 7 p.m. Monday at Coeur d’Alene High School.

“They’re not perfect,” said Lydia Guerra, state exiting standards coordinator for the Department of Education. “This is our first draft. We know we need to work on the wording. We know there’s sensitive issues out there. We know some are too specific and some are too broad.”

Some parents and teachers at the public hearings have complained that the standards are too vague and difficult to assess.

Few North Idaho parents or even school administrators have had a chance to review the exiting standards, which were prepared by an all-volunteer committee in June.

Coeur d’Alene Superintendent David Rawls, who has examined the math and science portions of the standards, gave them a mixed review.

“The math part was targeted toward the measurable statements,” Rawls said. “There were examples that were more real-world oriented. In contrast, I thought the science statements, … they’re more esoteric.”

The 135 parents, teachers, business owners, administrators and community representatives who served on the exiting standards committees modeled many of their benchmarks on those of the 42 states that already have adopted graduation standards, Guerra said.

“We’re trying to learn from other states and learn from their mistakes, not reinvent the wheel,” she said.

The committees will meet in Boise in mid-August to review comments from the public hearings and prepare a second draft of the standards.

In September and October they will sponsor more public hearings in preparation for the final draft, Guerra said.

If all goes well, the standards will be presented to the state Board of Education in December and to the Legislature the following month.

The class of 2003 would be the first affected by the new standards if they are adopted by lawmakers.

“Right now we have credit requirements in high school,” Guerra said. “But there is no way to actually measure and know if the student can perform what he just learned.”

State education officials have not determined how to assess whether students have met the graduation standards.

Some parents and administrators have expressed fear at the prospect of the state wresting control from local school districts. But Coeur d’Alene parent Sue Thilo said she does not share that concern.

“We’re always wanting more state funding,” Thilo said. “That comes with the price tag of losing some local control. It’s a mixed bag. I want local control, but I also want state funding.”

Post Falls Superintendent Dick Harris also said he does not worry about the state taking control from the districts.

“I have found typically that the local district standards have been higher than the state standards anyway,” Harris said. “I’m one that believes in high expectations and high standards.”

FULL REPORT The full report on proposed exiting standards is available at some libraries and on the World Wide Web at: http://www.sde.state.id.us/osbe/board.htm.

SUGGESTED STANDARDS The state Board of Education has proposed high school graduation standards in five subject areas. Suggested benchmarks from each category include: Health: Assess the importance of nutrition and physical activity on the growth and development of humans throughout life. Analyze the cost and accessibility of health-care services. Language arts/communication: Decipher unfamiliar words. Assess the significance of themes in a literary text. Math: Convert temperatures between Celsius and Fahrenheit. Estimate your chances of buying the winning lottery ticket. Science: Understand the form and function of DNA and the basis of molecular heredity. Understand the effect of population growth and decline, to understand their importance on ecosystems. Social studies: Demonstrate the ability to fill out appropriate tax forms and understand the relationship between taxes and public services. Identify the six purposes in the Preamble to the Constitution.