Without enforceable measurements, rules or penalties, government education goals are just exercises in rhetoric. But when there are specific rules, governments can paint themselves - and lagging students - into a corner.
That's happening now, as the date draws closer when Maryland's high school class of 2009 is going to be required to get minimum scores on four standardized exit exams in order to get high school diplomas.
This is posing a problem in jurisdictions across the state, and here in Anne Arundel County. And it's a problem that is particularly bad for minorities, three years after the Board of Education reached an agreement with the county NAACP and RESPECT organizations to raise the achievement level of African-American students.
According to the county school system, more than 1,000 students - about 23 percent of the class of 2009 - have not yet passed all the High School Assessments, which cover algebra, English, American government and biology. More than 350 black students - about 40 percent - haven't passed all the tests.
Late last year, seeing what was coming, the state Board of Education approved a plan under which students can also get diplomas by submitting state-designed "academic validation projects."
This may be useful for a few genuinely test-phobic students. But most of the lagging students will find it just as hard to complete an honestly judged project as to pass the HSAs, and many don't meet the state-set criteria - such as having passed specific courses - to do the projects.
So the problem remains: Now that the state's high school graduates are to be held to standards that can't be warped by grade inflation, there will be fewer diplomas. And more marginal students who don't think they can pass the HSAs may decide to drop out.
This, of course, conflicts with the other educational priority expressed by the name of the major federal educational program: No Child Left Behind.
Tonight county schools, in accordance with the agreement with the NAACP and RESPECT, are holding forums on this problem at seven different places in the county. We hope these gatherings produce some ideas on how to get the remaining students over the HSA hurdle, and help mobilize families and communities.
For no matter what schools do or pledge to do, academic achievement starts in the home and must be encouraged by the community.
As Francis Bacon said, knowledge is power. And in a nation where a college diploma is increasingly necessary for a good career, a high school diploma is the minimum needed for economic security.
The whole point of the state graduation requirement was not to write off huge numbers of students, but to make high school diplomas both meaningful and nearly universal. If that's going to be done, much work still remains.
