Hundreds of NJ Students Fail Grad Test and Earn Diploma by Appeal

Dashon Burton’s mom was planning his graduation party before he knew whether he would graduate.

“She said she was going to buy graduation decorations,” said 18-year-old Burton. “When she said that I thought, ‘oh my god, no.’”

Burton is an honor roll student and an aspiring video game designer. He sits up straight when the rest of his classmates slouch, and folds his hands on his desk

The senior at Woodrow Wilson High School in Camden, N.J. took the state’s mandatory high school exit exam and the alternative exit exam, which is untimed and easier, a total of five times.

“When it comes to this test, I can be honest, I’m not really good. But I try so hard,” he said. “It kills my heart.”

Last year, 48 percent of seniors in Camden didn’t pass either of the two high school exit exams. But they earned their diploma anyway by submitting an appeal to the state. Throughout New Jersey, 1,400 seniors graduated through the appeals process.

Some argue that providing multiple pathways to graduation are a lifeline for some students, not a loophole.

Multiple Pathways to Graduation

Woodrow Wilson High School, like its home city, has suffered from the effects of poverty. The school is 60 percent Hispanic, 40 percent black and each student qualifies for free lunch and breakfast.

More than half of the school’s current seniors have not yet passed the mandatory high school exit exam, called the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).

“I’ve been studying my whole life and I never got left back or anything and that would break my record and I wouldn’t like that,” said senior Wendy Lee Cruz.

She’s an A student.

“I try so hard,” she said. “I want to do everything perfect.”

Throughout the state about 11,000 students didn’t pass the HSPA last year, according to the New Jersey Department of Education.

They took a different test called the Alternative High School Assessment (ASHA). It’s less rigorous and consists of just one problem per subject. If students fail the Algebra portion of the HSPA, they’re given a single Algebra question on the AHSA.

Cruz passed the reading and writing portions but hasn’t yet passed any of the four math sections.

The 18 year old spent three years in elementary school in New York, returned to her home in the Dominican Republic and ended up in New Jersey for the end of her senior year just this past January. She’ waiting to hear how she did on her last attempt at the exam before graduation.

“I don’t know if I did well, but I think I did,” Cruz said.
If she doesn’t pass, she’ll likely earn her diploma anyway.

The Appeals Process

New Jersey created its appeals process in 2010 when the state introduced the alternative high school graduation exam, which is more rigorous than the previous test.

Close to 2,000 seniors failed. Instead of telling them at the last minute that they wouldn’t graduate, the state began allowing students to appeal the graduation requirements by submitting samples of their classwork.

Valid samples include a single algebra problem, or a persuasive essay with a teacher’s comments in the margins. That’s how they earn their diploma.

“I think when you first learn about this process at the surface level it feels suspicious,” said Camden schools Superintendent Paymon Rouhanifard. “But once you actually dig in and spend time with students and teachers you understand why it’s there.”

Students have been affected by low education standards in the district for too long, Rouhanifard said.

“In many respects the system has failed them,” he said. But holding back half the senior class because they can’t pass a test should not be an option.

“It’s a bit arbitrary to say that if you scored one question below that bar on a standardized test that you shouldn’t receive a diploma,” he said.

One in three residents in Camden are under the age of 18.

“The future of this city literally resides with our students and our young people,” Rouhanifard said. “We don’t want to penalize future life opportunities for them.”

Not a single student at the school has been denied an appeal in the past few years, according to guidance counselor Fonda Davis. But she doesn’t tell the students that.

“We wait,” Davis said, “until we get that written, and then we let them know.”  

Dashon Burton heard from Davis just recently. He passed his final attempt at the more rigorous HSPA, and will be able to celebrate at his graduation party after all.