The High School Assessments (HSAs) are important tests for every Maryland student, since the results will be reported on transcripts and passing scores may be required for graduation. Our organizations believe that the issue of making these tests "high stakes" can not be addressed until there is transparency in their development and administration. We share serious concerns about the content and scoring of these tests in the absence of transparency. In particular:

1) The scaling formula raises significant questions, most notably why the upper two hundred points of the 800 point scale for each test is apparently completely unused. Without a valid statistical justification, we might reasonably surmise that the resulting score compression was designed to artificially close the "achievement gap."

2) The Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) has never satisfactorily responded to critiques of scoring of earlier state assessments that relied on constructed responses, yet the HSAs rely heavily on constructed response questions. These critiques charged that the expensive and time-consuming scoring process was unreliable and often awarded more points to incorrect answers than to correct answers.

3) Some of the test questions require such a minimal understanding of the subject (notably in Algebra/Data Analysis) that they raise the question of whether these assessments are tests of basic functional skills or high school proficiency.

We believe that serious issues of accountability will arise unless the MSDE:

1) publishes test questions, the scoring methods, all technical data (including both validity and reliability estimates), and the scaling formula after each administration;

2) publishes aggregate raw performance data;

3) publishes raw performance data disaggregated by race/ethnicity, gender, and students receiving special services;

4) benchmarks the test against a national test such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP);

5) gives individuals needing remediation access to scored tests; and

6) creates a formal mechanism for community feedback.