HIGH SCHOOL EXIT TESTS: PART OF BAD TREND

Surprise, surprise. Missouri's State Board of Education has approved a new exit test for all graduating seniors. The board unanimously approved a 27-page report called, "Meeting the Challenge: Providing Superior Public Education for All Missouri Students."

This drudges up memories of "A Nation at Risk" report in the mid-1980s, when public educators panicked and embraced all kinds of fads and wacky alternatives. Missouri followed with its Excellence in Education Act of 1985.

But why didn't Missouri schools improve?

In 1993, Missouri's educational experts followed with the Outstanding Schools Act. Commissioner of Education Bob Bartman told the State Board of Education last week that many of the goals from this legislation have been reached. Which ones? How were they reached? And if this expensive piece of legislation was so successful, why do Missouri schools still need fixing?

Once again Missouri's educational experts seem to be speeding down the same path. When will we learn that fewer, not more, state controls and mandates are what's needed?

The exit testing will begin with the Class of 2005. We can only hope that by that time the experts will realize the ineffectiveness of performance-based education. Objective tests are what needed to rate students, not subjective comparisons that even some teachers can't pass.

A series of 10 hearings were held across the state in recent months as sort of self-fulling prophecy. Department of Elementary and Secondary Education officials planted the seed of exit testing, and then talked it up.

The forums, included the one in Cape Girardeau, indicated a mixed, if not outright negative, reaction to exit exams before graduation. But it was enough to make these exit exams a reality. One has to wonder if exit exams weren't part of the master plan all along. Educrats were merely trying to muster some measure of public support, no matter how small.

The exit-test concept has raised eyebrows across the state. For example, the Missouri School Boards Association said it would prefer local boards to implement their own systems of accountability. The Missouri State Teacher's Association has also expressed reservations -- especially a loss of local control.

Missouri needs to quite monkeying around with tests and trends. State and federal mandates are strangling public schools, forcing too many resources and personnel out of the classrooms where they're needed. Schools need more flexibility and creativity at the local level -- where decisions can more positively impact student performance.