A high school teacher in Baltimore City provided answers to 10 students who needed to pass a biology test in order to graduate, the Baltimore Sun reports.
The teacher may have felt bad for the students at Career Academy, an alternative high school that serves students from many city schools who need extra help. However, the students, who have been denied their high school diploma as a result of cheating on this statewide test, are saying they didn’t know they would be getting that type of help. They’ll all have to go to summer school and retake the test in order to get their high school diplomas.
“I would have rather failed it on my own terms,” one of the students was quoted as saying. “Now, it’s like we have to suffer for something the school put us up to. It was like robbing a bank with a gun to your head.”
The biology High School Assessment is one of a few “exit” exams that students must pass in order to graduate from high school. For biology, students must achieve a scaled score of at least 400. Under current rules, they can take the test as many times as necessary to achieve that score, but if they don’t get a 400 or higher at least once, they can’t receive a Maryland high school diploma.
They have other options, though. For one, scores on the various HSAs, which include algebra/data analysis, English 10, and, for some students, government, can be combined to achieve a minimum total that allows students to graduate even though their score on one of the tests may be below the passing mark.
They can also “make up” points on the tests by completing a “bridge” project. For biology, this might be completing a laboratory exercise and reporting about it. The state allows students to apply up to 20 points for each bridge project completed toward their score on a test. For example, if a student scored 370 on the biology test, he could successfully complete two bridge projects to get a score of 410 instead of retaking the test.
The Sun reported that about half the students in Baltimore City Public Schools complete at least one bridge project in order to graduate.
Changes to the rules for bridge projects have been proposed but not yet published. If the proposed changes take effect, students may be limited in terms of how many times they can retake each HSA before they have to use bridge projects to make up any points needed for graduation.