THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 25, 1995 TAG: 9502250238
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VANEE VINES, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Short : 39 lines
Next year, for the first time, students will have to pass all three parts of the Literacy Passport Test to earn a high school diploma.
Seniors who transfer to a Virginia public school would still be required to pass the test to graduate, even if they arrive near the end of the school year, the state Board of Education decided Thursday.
The board said it would continue to give Virginia students at least three chances to pass the test. But if a high school senior transfers to a public school after the spring test, the state will not be obligated to administer the test in time for graduation, officials said. These students could later return to school to take the test, and they would have three chances to pass it.
The test, first given in the sixth grade, is designed to ensure that students have mastered fundamentals in reading, writing and math before entering high school. Students who fail any portion of it in the sixth grade can retake it in later years.
They must pass the test to be considered ninth-graders. But many students haven't cleared that hurdle; instead they move through school with an ``ungraded'' label - which usually means they weren't assigned to a grade because they didn't pass the literacy test.
On Thursday, the board released last fall's results. Among the findings: Fifty-six percent to 61 percent of students who took at least one portion of the test passed it. Fifty-four percent of students who took all three parts passed.
KEYWORDS: LITERACY PASSPORT TEXT STANDARDIZED TEST VIRGINIA SCHOOLS
VIRGINIA STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION by CNB