While the end of the school year brings final exams and projects, students are still required to take other standardized tests before leaving for summer break. The Maryland High School Assessments (HSAs) are standardized tests in three main subjects including Algebra 1, English 10 and Biology in which students must receive at least a minimum score in order to graduate from high school. However, the Government HSA was brought back this year, after it was discontinued two years ago during the 2010-2011 school year.
Since 2009, HSAs have been part of the Maryland High School graduation requirement, and are “tests that measure school and individual student progress,” according to the Maryland State Department of Education. However, a countywide ruling stated that students who took the AP Government exam did not have to take the HSA, as those students already sat through another exam. Students enrolled in honors or on-level government courses had to take the HSA. Some students who took the HSA, however, were upset they had to take the test.
“The exam was really easy,” said sophomore Lucas Absolon, “And pointless. The entire exam was basically common sense.” He added that even though AP students had to take their AP exam, they should have also been required to take the Government HSA because those students are still taking a Government course. Social Studies teacher Rainer Kulenkampff disagrees.
“I understand that students might think ‘this sucks,'” he said. “However, it is important that the county maintains an emphasis on developing well rounded and informed citizens and this is one way to make sure that goal is met.”
He added that students also had a lot of time to review and that helped put them in the mindset need to take the HSA, which is something that will also be needed on the final exam. AP level students are exempt from a final exam, and typically complete a project or a paper in its place.
During the 2012 General Assembly session, legislation concerning the reinstatement of the Government HSA was introduced. The House and Senate both unanimously passed the legislation and respective bills, and Governor Martin O’Malley signed them law on May 22, 2012, which resulted in the revival of the Government HSA. Absolon said he was upset that the HSA was resinstated in the first place.
“It was a waste of time,” he said. “They shouldn’t have brought it back.”
During the current school year, the Government HSA will not actually be part of the graduation requirement, but instead only a formative assessment to let teachers and administrators be prepared for the 2013-2014 school year, where it will be a requirement for all future high school students. This means no student currently in high school is required to pass the Government HSA for their graduation requirement. However, they must either pass the Biology, Algebra and English HSAs or earn a cumulative score of 1208 after taking all of them.
Incoming ninth graders entering in the 2013-2014 school year and beyond, however, must pass the Government HSA as well as the other three or earn a combined score of 1602 as part of their graduation requirement.
To pass these exams, students are given practice tests and prep by their teachers, but sophomore Zac Levi didn’t think students were prepared enough.
“Besides the prep, they really could have just given us more time to prepare,” he said. “While I may not like the tests, they are still a requirement, so lets just give people more time to get the best score they can.”