A bill to eliminate exit testing for Mississippi high school students and replace it with the ACT died last week in the Mississippi Legislature before it could be brought to a vote on the House floor.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Gary Chism, R-Columbus, a member of the House Education Committee, would have terminated the current exit test requirements and allowed students to take the ACT as an exit test instead. However, under national standards, the idea would not have been allowed without special permission from the State Department.
The issue was in requirements laid out in the Every Student Succeeds Act, the Obama-era successor to No Child Left Behind, requiring students to be tested in various areas before graduation. However, permission for states to use other exams or none at all has been granted. The act requires testing in set subject areas, including math and reading/language arts once between third and eighth grades and again in high school. The state of Mississippi also administers a social studies test.
“We did not get to bring the bill out because the State Department lobbied the chairman and the Speaker of the House that we can’t do away with those three,” Chism said. “We still feel like in other states they have done this, but they had to get special permission to do this.”
Chism also said he hoped to bring a similar bill forward in the 2019 session.
“We’re going to maybe do some business with the federal folks ourselves and see if we can line it up for next year,” Chism said.
Rep. Rob Roberson, R-Starkville, who served as vice-chair of the House Education Committee, said new Education Committee Chair Richard Bennett felt like he was not quite ready to take on the issue this session.
Despite the uncertainty, Roberson said he would not oppose such a measure.
“In the long run, I think we’re going to move to a test that does not determine whether or not you graduate,” Roberson said. “ I really do feel like our current chairman is looking at that, but he needed a little more time to be able to get his head wrapped around it.”
Roberson also acknowledged the issues surrounding using the ACT as an exit exam.
“The ACT people said they weren’t comfortable using it as an exit exam, because it didn’t cover a couple of the things the state is required to test, and for them to be able to do it, they would have to change their test up a little bit,” Roberson said.
Roberson said he anticipated the state moving eventually to a system where teachers administer their own exam at the end of the year or a test similar to the ACT, but covering the areas the ACT does not.
“If somebody has A’s in all of their courses, but they fail to be able to take this pass or fail test before they can walk down the aisle for their diploma, we think that we’re hurting them,” Chism said.