Assignment 7-1: News Story

Nick Acheson
February 26, 2010

A new education proposal by the National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE) is starting to receive a lot of attention due to the fact that the proposal allows 10th graders to “test out’ of high school. Eight States have already joined with the NCEE including: Connecticut, Kentucky, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Maine. It is known as the “NCEE Board Examination Proposal” and is designed to significantly increase the number of students who leave high school ready for college.

According to the New York Times, “More than a million college freshmen across America must take remedial courses each year, and many drop out before getting a degree.”

All over the world Board Examination Systems are currently in place, and working. Countries using this system include Australia, France, Denmark, England, Finland, Ireland, Germany, Canada, the Netherlands, Scotland, as well as other countries. “We’ve looked at schools all over the world, and if you walk into a high school in the countries that use these board exams, you’ll see kids working hard, whether they want to be a carpenter or a brain surgeon,” said Mark Tucker, President of the NCEE.

School districts from the eight states can choose whether or not to participate in the voluntary program. Students who do choose to participate will take exams at the end of their sophomore year and if the pass, they will be able to graduate from high school. Students who pass have the option of attending college the next fall or may remain in high school and take courses designed to get them ready for a selective college of their choice.

The cost of the program is estimated at around $500 per student which will allow the school to buy tests and courses as well as training teachers. A generous $1.5 million donation from the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation will allow the NCEE to get the program started. To help with the added costs, the 8 states also intend to apply for federal stimulus money.

More Specifically in Maine, the Maine Education Commissioner is meeting this week to discuss the program with school superintendents. And although programs like this have worked in other countries, there is still a whole lot of information about the program and how it will work that is relatively unknown. According to the Kennebec Journal (an Augusta, ME newspaper), the president of the Maine Education Association said last week he was concerned about the "top-down" nature of the plan, which he said was "made with no input from practitioners in the field."

There have also been questions about the readiness of 16 year olds to enter college. A comment made by a reader on the Kennebec Journal Website said, “What 16 year old is prepared for the challenges and stresses of college? And I'm not talking academics here. There are parties, drugs, and promiscuity rampant in the colleges and universities all over the country.”

Clearly there is more information needed until people can make an informed decision on the subject. But if this program looks to have a real chance of improving schools in Maine as well as the Country, I think we need to consider it.