CUNY Writing Test Fails a 'Miniscule' Number of Students

When the City University of New York started requiring its undergraduates at senior colleges to pass a writing test before they enter their third year, critics predicted it would force hundreds of students to drop out of school.

As it turns out, what was billed as a high-stakes test has had a negligible impact on enrollment. Only 65 students out of the 83,260 who have taken the test have been removed from degree programs because they failed it four times.

Some supporters of the three-year old test, which CUNY has described as a cornerstone of its efforts to raise academic standards, are questioning the effectiveness of a test that all but a tiny percentage ultimately pass.

"I think it's not a serious test," said Nahma Sandrow, a former Bronx Community College professor who taught English at the school for 32 years. "I can't believe there is such a change in three years that everybody at Bronx Community College can read and write that well."

Herman Badillo, the former CUNY chairman who successfully pushed for higher academic standards, called the number of students who couldn't pass the test a "miniscule amount."

The former congressman said he has "confidence that [CUNY Chancellor] Matthew Goldstein will look into it and make sure that it is an exam that is meaningful."

CUNY officials say the test wasn't designed to punish poorly performing students but to ensure that those who graduate from its senior colleges have mastered a basic level of reading and writing skills.

CUNY approved the test in 1998 under pressure from Mayor Giuliani, who accused the university of graduating students who couldn't write.

"The development of the [test], and its use as a measure for quality assurance places the university at the leading edge of such efforts nationally," Mr. Goldstein wrote in a July 1 letter to college presidents and the board of trustees.

Mr. Goldstein's letter said 92.1% of students who took the test for the first time in spring 2003 have passed the exam, which is offered four times a year. Many students voluntarily leave CUNY before taking the test four times.

All CUNY community college students must pass the test to graduate and move on to a senior college. Senior college students have to pass the test by the time they have completed 60 credits, usually during their sophomore year.

Students are allowed to take the test three times and can appeal to take it a fourth time. Faculty committees approve most of the appeals, requiring those students to attend writing workshops and to take writing-intensive courses - what CUNY calls "intervention." To further help students prepare for the test, CUNY has pushed for more writing assignments in undergraduate courses as part of its "Writing Across the Curriculum" program.

Students who fail four times can take non-credit courses at CUNY or enroll in adult continuing-education programs. They can take the test a fifth time to reenroll as credited students.

The test consists of two parts, one an essay comparing academic articles and another analyzing a reading passage.