Maryland isn't the first state to have second thoughts about denying diplomas to thousands of high school kids who can't pass state tests.
As the graduation deadline grew near, Washington state delayed requiring its math exam. Utah dropped the testing requirement altogether. In Massachusetts, the teachers union mounted an ad campaign against the tests - though the state held firm.
And in California, parents got angry and filed a class action suit. Students still have to pass the tests to get a diploma, but they can stay in high school for up to six years if that's what it takes.
Across the nation, state leaders have gotten nervous as the date approaches to deny high school diplomas. They have agonized over what to do, though in the end, only Utah has decided to do away with the requirement.
"States realize that they have set standards that kids simply aren't able to meet ... or the failure rates are simply too high politically," said Jay Heubert, a professor at the Teachers College, Columbia University.
Today, 22 states require their students - about 65 percent of students in the nation - to pass high school exit exams. Maryland's state school board is faced this month with making a final decision on whether to deny diplomas to the Class of 2009 if students can't pass the High School Assessments in English, algebra, biology and American government.
A coalition of groups - teachers, principals, school boards and the American Civil Liberties Union - has come out against requiring the tests for the Class of 2009, saying too many students don't seem to be ready.
State data released last month showed that 68 percent of students in the Class of 2009 have passed the English exam. In Baltimore, 41 percent have passed. Statewide, there was a 77 percent pass rate on the algebra, 71 percent on government and 62 percent on biology.
In concept, making sure that all high school graduates are at least competent in a few basic subjects is easy for politicians to embrace. Maryland began planning more than a decade ago for high school assessments in many subjects. The testing requirement was supposed to take effect for the Class of 2007 but was delayed until 2009.
Then last month, after hearing complaints, state schools Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick proposed that students who fail the tests three times be allowed to do a senior project instead. Grasmick said it would be a rigorous assignment designed for only a few thousand students a year.
Under Maryland's current rule, students also can get a diploma by getting a minimum composite score on the four tests. And for special-education students and those with testing anxiety, a different but "comparable" test is now being tried out in three districts.
But opponents in Maryland question whether the current options will be enough for the 2,000 to 3,000 members of the Class of 2009 who the state predicts probably won't pass the tests. Critics also wonder whether the state is being overly optimistic about just how many students will pass when they retake tests during the next 1 1/2 years. The there are about 66,000 students in the Class of 2009.
In many states, the center of the debate has become the failure rates, particularly of African-Americans, Hispanics and students for whom English is their second language.
"It depends on who is failing. If it is the wealthier kids or kids with disabilities, it matters more," Heubert said.
California went ahead with the standards, with some exemptions and conditions, but opponents say it has been devastating for some students, particularly Hispanics. John Rogers, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles who researched the dropout rate in California, estimated that 20,000 fewer students graduated in the Class of 2006 - the first year the exam requirement took effect - than would have before the exams.
The schools with the largest drops in graduation rates were schools that are crowded and serve predominantly Hispanic and black students. "The politics of high-stakes testing is such," Rogers said, "that it is very difficult for officials to back away from the tests. It is very difficult for politicians to stand up and say, 'I believe in high-stakes tests, but this state is not ready.'"
Lawsuits have been filed challenging the constitutionality of the tests, but no judge has ordered a state to abandon the testing, according to Jack Jennings at the Center on Educational Policy, a nonprofit that keeps track of the issue.
In Arizona, students who had met all the graduation requirements except passing the exams filed suit, saying the state hadn't provided adequate funds to ensure they were taught the necessary material. The case has yet to come to trial.
But the experience in Massachusetts is far different. Robert Schwartz, the academic dean at the Harvard School of Education who has watched the unfolding of such testing in his state, said even in the face of criticism, state leaders held firm.
The only time the state tests were in jeopardy, he said, was when the failure rates were in the range of 25 percent, which is similar to Maryland's failure rates two years prior to students' scheduled graduation.
But because the state had increased education spending by billions before the tests, fewer people could complain. "The deal was more money for education in return for more accountability for performance," Schwartz said. When some tried to repeal the graduation requirement, the political and business community locked arms and said no.
By the time the first class of students had to pass the tests, the pass rates had risen to 94 percent, Schwartz said.
Those who oppose the tests sometimes focus on those students who will be lost because they will get discouraged and drop out.
David S. Spence, president of the Southern Regional Education Board, believes the tests set standards that are too low and that states would be better off creating exams at 11th- or 12th-grade levels that are designed to make sure students are ready for college work or for employment.
Those exams should become part of the students' final grade in a course, but not in themselves be a requirement for graduation, he said.
Right now, Spence said, "We are fumbling around trying to find the right formula."
Proponents, on the other hand, say the tests will force high schools that aren't providing a good education to do better.
"The bottom line in Maryland is that there is a fear of failure rates of African-Americans. That is a legitimate concern," Jennings said. "It is not a problem with the test. It is a problem with the education. By avoiding the test, all the board would do is avoid a day of reckoning."
Although Baltimore City and Prince George's County have the highest failure rates and the largest number of African-American students, superintendents in both those school systems support the HSAs. Andres Alonso in Baltimore said he will allow students to stay in school as long as they want - up to age 21 - to get a diploma. "My increasing conviction over time is that we are sheltering students from the fact that we have miseducated them," he said. When asked about the cost, he said, "I will find the money."
In the suburbs, the support is more mixed among superintendents and school boards. Most importantly, Gov. Martin O'Malley has not weighed in, but he is planning to meet with board members this month.
"It takes political courage for a board to adopt a standard like this," Jennings said. "But it takes political acumen to find an out."
liz.bowie@baltsun.com