Weast said he has no disagreement about the need for a good system of accountability, but he does not believe the HSAs are the best measure. He said the tests are not difficult enough to pass and that the state might consider giving the ACT, a national standardized test taken by students who are applying for college.
Opponents from Montgomery County said the HSA tests were not a perfect measure of what students know and would unfairly penalize students who were from immigrant families or minorities who had not been exposed to good teaching.
The student board member, Derek Wu, a senior from Bennett High School in Wicomico County, who said he had polled student representatives on county school boards across the state, voted for the delay, saying students believed there were several problems with the test that needed to be worked out.
