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Proposed test opens opportunities of advancement for 10th graders
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Written by Mark Schwenker
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Friday, 16 February 2007
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 | | Photo illustration by Mark Schwenker | |
The cream of the crop, the top of the line. Lotta Repenning has made it. Reppening, grade 12 in Germany, will soon graduate from her school called “Gymnasium”, which is known as the top high school education one can get in Germany. Although not everyone gets to go there, Repenning is one student who has worked hard to achieve it.
In Germany and many other European countries, students are evaluated early to determine their academic career paths.
“After fourth grade, your teachers start deciding if you are good enough for a Gymnasium, Realschule or Hauptschule,” said Repenning. Hauptschule is the most basic form of education and lasts from 5th to 8th grade, although not required, the students may choose to take an apprentiship with a company.
Realschule is the mid-range school and lasts from 5th to 10th grade. After students complete Realschule, they’re expected to go into an apprenticeship to learn to work in an office or similar type position.
Gymnasium, which lasts until grade 13, is difficult and is used as preparation for a college or university. Although universities and colleges were once paid for if a student attended a Gymna-sium, some costs now need to be covered, according to Repenning.
A new proposal may turn some American schools toward a similar system. The National Center on Education and the Economy proposed that students should be able to have more opportunities for advancement after a test given in the 10th grade. This means students who pass the test would have the option of ending their high school career and going onto a community college.
The 10th grade test proposal, titled “Tough Choices or Tough Times,” explains the theory of having a test that would allow students to choose if they want to take more advanced AP-like courses or even enroll into a community college.
Also, students who pass the test, regardless if they choose to stay in high school for advanced classes or go to a community college, would be able to take a second set of state Board exams at their 12th year of education. “If they hit certain scores, they will be guaranteed the right to go to their state colleges and some state universities as (college) juniors,” according to the report. It is not said if the test would have any impact on costs.
If students fail the 10th grade test, they may take remedial courses and take the test again later, according to the proposal.
However, the number of times a student can take the test a year has not been released.
It also didn’t state if test failure would effect eligibility for college.
According to the proposal, the main advantage would be benefiting students who feel as if they’re ready enough and capable of more challenging courses that fit their needs.
“Our (current) testing system rewards students who will be good at routine work, while not providing opportunities to creative and innovative thinking and analysis,” stated the report.
Students ready for more advanced education would no longer need to wait to begin more in-depth and challenging courses for better college preparation.
Although the system isn’t present in an American school yet, some see disadvantages in the system.
“There are some seriously flawed ideas… we don’t need a distracting, massive restructuring to help high schoolers reach high standards,” said Antonia Cortese, executive vice president of the American Federation of Teachers in a Chicago Tribune article.
Others too feel that high school serves as a sufficient preparation to college.
“I think that’s wrong (proposal) because high school is supposed to prepare you for college, and getting out that soon would defeat the purpose of high school,” said Jeff Moritz, junior. “You’d miss out on the best years of high school too.”
Although the testing proposal would allow students to get an early start on their post-high school careers, there are early opportunities readily available to students who wish to pursue them.
“I had a friend that I went to high school with and during summer between her junior and senior year, she decided to drop out of high school and go onto college,” said Nancy Jacobsen, principal. “Due to her grades, standings and ACT scores, she was accepted into Bradley.”
While still in idea form, the 10th grade test proposal sparks thoughts of being too early to make a long term decision.
Several students have returned to West speaking about what they had wished they did differently in high school, according to Jacobsen.
“Students who come back from various years of college said they wished they would have challenged themselves more during their final years in high school to prepare for actual college work,” said Jacobsen.
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