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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Seventeen percent of Utah seniors have yet to pass all sections of the Utah Basic Skills Competency Test, and next month is their last chance.
"Kids have sobered up -- and I say that with great kindness," Patti Harrington, state superintendent of public instruction, said Wednesday in presenting the results to the Legislature's Public Education Appropriations Subcommittee.
The students may take the test five times. All Utah students, beginning with this year's seniors, have to pass all three sections of the UBSCT in order to get a full diploma.
The math portion has been hardest, with 13 percent of the seniors still needing to pass that section. Seven percent need to pass the writing test and 3 percent have not passed the reading portion.
Students who take the test at least three times but still don't pass can still get a diploma, but it will specify the student did not pass the exam. Those did not pass and did not try at least three times may get a certificate of completion.
The only gap between boys and girls is in the writing portion of the test, where 96 percent of girls have passed the test, but only 90 percent of boys.
The largest gap is between students with and without learning disabilities.
Sixty-four percent of students with disabilities have yet to pass the math portion, for example, while only 8 percent of students without disabilities have yet to pass it. However, there is an exemption for students with disabilities for passing UBSCT.
The next largest gap is between migrant and non-migrant students with 51 percent of migrant students still needing to pass the math exam, compared to 12 percent of non-migrant students.
The state Office of Education is asking lawmakers for $16 million to address math instruction in elementary grades, which could assist students by the time they take the UBSCT, and $6.1 million for UBSCT remedial help.
This month schools are offering remediation crash courses, both in school and after school. Students also can take free tutorials through the Electronic High School at ehs.uen.org.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
