Letters To the Editor

To the Editor:

In a recent letter, Monty Neill, associate director of FairTest, reported inaccurate data for the Cleveland public schools in support of his conclusion "that the rising pass rate [for Ohio's exit test] may stem from a striking increase in the number of African-Americans who drop out of high school--or are pushed out by the test" (related story ).

The class of 1994 was the first required to pass the Ohio 9th-grade proficiency tests to graduate. Clearly, in Cleveland, this requirement did not create a marked difference in the percentage of 8th graders graduating four years later. In fact, no data reported to the state suggest either that the number of dropouts in Cleveland increased significantly because of the tests or that African-American students were disproportionately represented in...