Recently at Gov. Phil Bryant’s executive budget recommendation presentation, he said, “We believe that juniors in high school may be able to take the ACT rather than some of the other testing programs for graduation. We would be able to determine the outcome of those students at a better level.” This would be a complete shift from the current four subject area tests needed to be passed to graduate. These exams are: Algebra I, English II, Biology I and U.S. History.
Sam Bounds, executive director of the Mississippi Association of School Superintendents, believes that substituting the ACT for the current subject area tests will cause ACT scores to increase for Mississippi students. In addition, he stated that having the ACT as the exit exam could reduce the problems of “teaching to the test.”
Though I believe the intention behind the suggested policy of Bryant and Bounds is to get more Mississippian children into college, I am not sold that this course of action is the appropriate route. However, I can say that I agree with the proposed measure to set aside $1.5 million to cover the cost for every junior in Mississippi to take the ACT. This will greatly help the many students living in poverty throughout Mississippi who simply cannot afford to take a $35 test.
Although I think that paying for the ACT for every college junior would be highly beneficial, I do not think that having the ACT as the exit exam would eradicate the “teaching to the test” strategy that annually occurs in Mississippi classrooms. From my understanding, the teachers would still more than likely “teach to the test,” except now the test would be the ACT and not the subject area test. I simply do not see a way to avoid “teaching to the test” unless we develop a new method to measure the competency of our students. The “teaching to the test” method arose as a response to the highly punitive accountability measures set forth in President George W. Bush’s landmark education legislation, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.
Education has been a cornerstone of the Bryant administration, and, honestly, I am proud of that. Under his governorship we have passed two major educational laws, one dealing with state funded pre-kindergarten and the other dealing with charter schools. However, as we aim to increase the number of Mississippi high school graduates, we must not take the easy way out by simply adopting the ACT as the exit exam. The future of Mississippi’s children is in the balance of any major decision we choose to make going forward in regard to exit exams. Our legislature must consider all viable possible options before deciding on the future of exit exams. I sincerely hope this happens, not for my sake, but for the sake of the children younger than me.
Tim Abram is a senior public policy leadership major from Horn Lake.
-Tim Abram
toabram@go.olemiss.edu
