Gateway exams may keep students from graduating
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Failing to pass the math Gateway exam may prevent 12 percent of the class from earning their diplomas, while 2 percent may not graduate for failing to pass the biology Gateway exam.
The Gateway exams were instituted by the state General Assembly two years ago as a method of raising the academic bar and increasing accountability within Tennessee schools.
Beginning with this year’s junior class, passing the exams in the three core subjects – algebra, biology and English II – is required to graduate with a regular education diploma.
Students with limited English proficiency, and those in special education, make up the largest percentage of those failing to pass the exams, said Warren County Schools Director of Testing Dianna Zadeh. She noted all students take the exams, even those who speak no English or are working far below their grade levels.
Those who have yet to pass any of the three required Gateway exams have four more opportunities to pass them before their class graduates next year. To help the failing students, the high school offers before-school and after-school tutoring sessions, as well as remediation classes.
Still, Zadeh said, statistically speaking, it is unlikely that 100 percent of the students will pass all of the required exams. Even when the state administered its competency exams, which the Gateway exams have replaced, it was not unheard of, she said, for a student to fail one or more of the tests and receive only an attendance diploma.
Zadeh said every effort is being made by the system to ensure every student passes all of the exams.
On the state level, an effort to better prepare students for the exams and help those who are currently failing is being undertaken by the state Board of Education, which recently gave initial approval to several measures. These include:
• Making schools study how students in grades three, five and eight are performing in reading, math and science, and then providing extra help for those who are not performing adequately.
• Giving students additional help when taking the Gateway tests. Suggestions include offering large-print exams, giving oral instructions and allowing students additional testing time.
• Making a universal path for graduation which would require all students to take the same core academic classes. This would replace the current practice of having students choose between college and tech-prep paths.