By E.J. STAPLER

But when she showed up to take the admissions test for entry into Valdosta Tech, they told her that she couldn't use her calculator for the math section.

"I had been studying algebra, and we always used our calculators," Hutchinson says. "This was basic math — add, subtract, multiply and divide. It was fractions. It was really easy stuff, but I'd forgotten my multiplication tables because I hadn't used them in so long."

She failed the math part of the exam. Before she could begin her course of study at Valdosta Tech, she had to take remedial classes for several weeks until she could get up to speed and repeat the test. Fortunately, she didn't give up, and today, she's well on her way to earning a diploma.

Although the details may vary from student to student, a trend has been identified that shows that students with a high school diploma too often don't have all of the skills they need to enter a technical college.

According to a December 1999 report from State Representative Charlie Smith, Jr. of St. Marys, 48.8 percent of Georgia's high school graduates who apply for admission to a technical college require one or more remedial courses before they can start a program of study. To reach this conclusion, Smith compiled statistics on students accepted into Georgia's 34 technical colleges.

This information was perplexing because 97 percent of Georgia's high school graduates pass the Georgia High School Graduation Tests, usually taken in 11th grade. Yet almost half of the high school graduates who applied to technical colleges flunked the required admission test, called the Assessing Student Success in Entry and Transfer (Asset) test, meant to measure basic academic skills at a 10th grade learning level.

"The reaction to the information was (one of) shock," recalls James Bridges, president of Valdosta Technical College and formerly the director of vocational education for the Valdosta public school system from 1972 to 1984. "It is assumed that a high school graduate would have no trouble getting into a technical college. When you tell students they can't get in, their self-esteem is shattered. Many times the young students leave and do not take advantage of the required developmental work in order to enter the college."

"We cannot allow students to graduate from high school if they have not yet mastered basic subject matter such as English and math," said Gov. Roy Barnes in response to the issue.

Gov. Barnes asked Bridges to present the data compiled by Smith to the State Educational Coordinating Committee (ECC). The 11-page report was a spreadsheet broken down by technical college, and it showed the number of students who applied from each high school and the percentage requiring remedial education.

Bridges also reported on his meetings with secondary educators in the Coastal Plains Regional Educational Services Area (RESA), where possible solutions to this problem were discussed.

"Valdosta Technical College and high school personnel wanted to offer courses in the high schools, but we had this problem with the Asset exam, which was a hurdle for the students," Bridges says. "We showed the high school personnel in our area the statewide data. Then, we showed them data we had compiled for the last three years on each school system. We even had the names of students who had recently graduated from their schools. The school personnel immediately asked, 'What can we do?"'

The result is a pilot project with 10 school systems participating. The technical colleges in the project area, Valdosta Technical College and East Central Technical College, administer the Asset test to 10th graders in the participating counties: Ben Hill, Berrien, Brooks, Cook, Echols, Irwin, Lanier, Lowndes, Turner and Valdosta.

The test results are given to each high school so that the principal and teachers know how the students are performing. With this information, the schools have two years to work with students in deficient areas.

Because the Asset test has a pass/fail combined cut-off score, students failing the Asset need to take the Computer Adaptive Placement Assessment and Support System (Compass) test to determine exactly which math or writing skills are deficient. This provides high school educators with accurate information they need to help students.

In spring 2001, both tests were administered, and Bridges met with curriculum directors of the participating school systems. The schools are now in initial stages of determining which types of remedial education should be offered.

"The Smith report gave us specific statewide information by school and pointed out for the first time, in undeniable numbers, the extent of the problem," Bridges says. "Prior to this, we speculated about it, but we didn't have any compiled data. Once we had the data, we were able to clearly identify the nature of the problem."

Bridges, in his report to the ECC, made only one recommendation to Gov. Barnes: Make the Asset score part of the high school report card, like the SAT and other standardized test scores. "That way, the principal and teachers will know the extent of the problem," Bridges explains. "The first thing you have to do to fix the educational gap is to make everyone — from the mamas and the daddies to the teachers and principals — aware of the problem. The curriculum directors were astounded and amazed that students were having this problem."

Administering the tests is inexpensive and gives students, parents and teachers specific information on educational deficiencies. Providing remedial education in the high schools should be more cost-effective than having to do it at the technical college, according to Bridges. The Asset test costs $3 per student, and the Compass test is $3 per section (math or English) per student.