Intelligent Texas High Schooler Denied HS Diploma Due to Unfair Exit Exams

How would you feel if, after 13 years of public education, your future was crushed due to the controversial Texas high school exit exam? What if you were intelligent, but couldn't do math? Texas denies high school diplomas to numerous students every year!

I am personally in contact with one young woman, who stands as a perfect example of how the Texas education system and related exit exams has caused life-long, dire consequences. This young woman, Yolanda, is very smart in many ways, and should never have been denied a high school diploma. If it were not for the extreme Texas testing requirements, Yolanda would be in her Junior year of college today, possibly working in an office setting or other medium-range career. Sadly, thanks to an unfair testing system, her future prospects took a turn for the worst and will never recover.

Yolanda (not actual name), is a 20-yr-old former student from the Texas public school system. Thanks to the difficult requirements of the Texas high school exit exam and her subsequent failure, she finds herself limited to jobs at convenience stores, fast food restaurants, or other low-end positions. An otherwide intelligent young woman, Yolanda had some trouble understanding phonics in her early years. As she was passed along every year from grade to grade, nobody took the time to help her with remedial reading classes, tutoring, or additional instruction, including her parents. She was taken from her home and placed in DHS/child welfare custody on two separate occasions. Her parents, both who seemed to be wrapped up in their own worlds, eventually divorced, leaving Yolanda to virtually fend for herself in every way imaginable.

As the years passed by, Yolanda found herself shifted from one parent's house to the other, transferred to various schools, and continually falling behind in her studies. She seemed to be resilient, however, always catching up with the rest of the students in record time. Despite her reading difficulties, her grades remained at a "C" or above.

During her last two years of high school, she found herself once again living with her mother, who was now residing in Longview, Texas. When Yolanda graduated, she had big dreams, hoping to attend college and find a good job. Little did she know that the Texas legislature had imposed a law that would thwart her ambitions in an unjust, unreasonable way.

Graduating with a 2.5 GPA, Yolanda could not say that she was at the top of her class, but she certainly wasn't in the bottom 10%. Yet, because of the Texas high school exit exam, she was denied her well-deserved diploma. Today, she has earned her GED, but the best jobs and opportunities will never be available to her because of it.

Is Yolanda's experiences in the Texas public school system unique? Certainly not! In fact, the Texas high school exit exams, better known as the "Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills tests" (TAKS), is highly controversial. Countless smart, promising high school students in Texas are denied their high school diplomas simply because they can't perform tasks such as using a graphing calculator, determining chemistry compositions, or detailing the history of the Alamo including correct dates, names, and locations.

Frankly, if this exam were required of all US citizens today, the vast majority of the general public would fail, myself included. While I lack adequate math skills, particularly in algebra, I scored well on the ACT after high school and the GRE before entering my Masters degree. Had I been a student in Texas, however, I am certain that I would have flunked due to my math deficiencies. The notion that I personally could have been a victim of the unfair, unjustified Texas high school exit exams angers me to the core. Knowing this, I wonder how many other students have been denied their rights to a promising future, all thanks to Texas senators and legislators.

I find it unnerving that the Texas public education system, Texas parents, and Texas government can get away with failing to adequately educate and support their children, then when all is said and done, punish the child by denying them their high school diploma. Perhaps if teachers pay was docked for every student who failed (provided that they actually made an effort), if parents were charged with parental neglect for failing to support their child's education, and if the government was held accountable for their lack of consideration regarding learning differences, then more students would be better educated upon exiting high school. As it stands, all three groups are not held accountable for students who fail the Texas high school exit exams. Somehow, despite numerous mistakes throughout the child's educational years, the tables are turned.

Thankfully, the Texas government has recognized the error of their ways. The Texas high school exit exam requirements were reversed in 2007, however, the new law will not take affect until the 2011-12 fiscal school year. This is great news for future students, but too late for Yolanda and others like her. Unfortunately, Yolanda was punished for her so-called failure, a failure which was due to circumstances that were beyond her control. This punishment, which comes in the form of a denied high school diploma, will haunt her for the rest of her life.

I, for one, hope that students who were previously denied their high school diploma in Texas will take the initiative to stand up for themselves and their rights. I would like to see every unreasonable HS diploma denial reversed, so that these students can once again dream big and reach for the stars!

Sources:

http://www.nctm.org/news/release.aspx?id=774
http://www.fairtest.org/exit-exam-update-wa-tx-ca-az-ma
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11847602
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Assessment_of_Knowledge_and_Skills
http://www.exodusnews.com/education/education019.htm
http://www.greatschools.org/students/academic-skills/high-school-exit-exams-issues.gs?content=587
http://sites.google.com/site/highschoolexits/home/examsbystate

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