From the October 2, 1996 Daily Report Card:
-> *4   MINIMUM COMPETENCY TESTS:  DO THEY INCREASE DROP-OUT RATE?   The
-> assumption that a poor score on a minimum competency
-> test causes students to leave school is disputed by two
-> researchers.  Bryan Griffin from Georgia Southern U and Mark
-> Heidorn from the Florida DoEd examined a cross-sectional random
-> sample of data drawn on over 76,000 black, white and Hispanic
-> high school students from 14 school districts in Fla.  The
-> results:  no statistically significant difference in dropout
-> rates between low achieving students who passed and failed the
-> MCT.
->    Griffin and Heidorn also found that while academically
-> disadvantaged students are more likely to leave school overall, it
-> did not appear that performance on the minimum competency test
-> provided any additional impetus for these students to drop out.
-> Another finding:  although a gap exists in the predicted
-> dropout rate between those who passed and failed the MCT for
-> students with better academic records, the data did not support the
-> notion that minority students are adversely affected by the MCT in a
-> manner different from white students.
->    The researchers also discovered a surprise finding.
-> Students with strong academic records, those one would least
-> expect to be affected by competency test performance -- suffer
-> most from failure on the exam.  Griffin and Heidorn suggest that this
-> relationship may be partially explained by the perceived
-> stigma attached to MCT failure.
->    Griffin and Heidorn caution against building any casual
-> inferences from the data; for example, that MCT performance
-> actually contributes to a student's decision to leave school.
-> Instead, the study only indicates possible linkages between MCT
-> performance and dropping out.
->    The researchers work is published in the Fall, 1996 issue of
-> "Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis," a journal of the
-> American Educational Research Association.  For a free copy of
-> the article write to the American Educational Research
-> Association; 1230 17th Street NW; Washington, D.C.  20036-3078;
-> 202/223-9485.
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