HSA week for seniors

This week marks a special administration of the HSA tests for seniors so that they have one more chance to pass in time for graduation. As most of you reading this are aware, this is the first year that Maryland students must meet the HSA requirement in order to receive a diploma. About 2 weeks ago, Sara Neufeld of the Baltimore Sun reported that over 80% of Baltimore City’s seniors have already met the HSA requirements for graduation. This seems promising, in that with the new HSA requirements Baltimore City’s graduating class will be about the same number it has been in recent years; in other words not many students are being denied a diploma because of the HSA. Nancy Grasmick even mentioned how Baltimore City Schools have done a great job getting seniors to fulfill their HSA graduation requirement.

What I would like to draw everyone’s attention to is how so many of these student’s have fulfilled their HSA requirement – “The Project.” To me, these projects are a method of enabling our students to accept their inferior education and do enough to just get by. I say this because in my view, completion of the project in the Algebra/Data Analysis subject does not demonstrate any amount of subject mastery, just that they put in some effort to do something. Many teachers, at almost every school in the city, have spent much time, most of it one-on-one with students, for assistance with the completion of these projects (in the mean time they miss most of their scheduled classes for weeks at a time). For the math projects, it comes down to showing the student an example of a problem that is nearly identical to the one on the project, then they line up the similarities, fill it out, and move on without having really learned anything. Mathematics is not a useful skill unless you are actually able to know when and how to use it when it is appropriate. You must have facts, formulae, and processes memorized in order to do this. A traditional-type exam is, in my opinion, the best way to ensure that students can use mathematical knowledge when called upon. Completion of these projects does not ensure that students have actually learned anything that is enduring.

Nonetheless, over 1000 seniors in Baltimore City Schools have made-up their HSA requirement already this year, many by completing these projects. In our school, there are almost no seniors that are sitting for the HSA tests this week, as most have followed the path project completion. What I really worry about is next year and thereafter. Only 1467 of 4333 juniors in Baltimore City have fulfilled their HSA requirements this far. It sounds like next year we have even more students who are allowed to “get by” through project completion.