Md. 1st to bar schools releasing tests to military

Md. 1st to bar schools releasing tests to military

http://www.sacbee.com/2010/05/12/2745691/md-1st-to-bar-schools-releasing.html

By KATHLEEN MILLER
May. 12, 2010

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- A first-of-its-kind law bars public high schools in
Maryland from automatically sending student scores on a widely used
military aptitude test to recruiters, a practice that critics say was
giving the armed forces backdoor access to young people without their
parents' consent.

School districts around the country have the choice of whether to
administer the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery exam, and
ones that offer it typically pass the scores and students' contact
information directly to the military. Topics on the test range from
math and reading to knowledge of electronics and automobiles.

The Maryland law, the first in the nation after similar California
legislation was vetoed, was signed last month and bars schools from
automatically releasing the information to military recruiters.
Instead, students, and their parents if they are under 18, will have
to decide whether to give the information to the military. The law
takes effect in July. One other state, Hawaii, has a similar policy
for its schools, but not a law.

Roughly 650,000 U.S. high school students took the exam in the
2008-2009 school year, and the Department of Defense says scores for
92 percent of them were automatically sent to military recruiters. In
the fiscal year that ended in September, 7.6 percent of those who
enlisted in the military used scores from the test as part of their
applications.

Nancy Grasmick, Maryland Superintendent of Schools, said in a letter
to lawmakers that the test and score analysis are "free services that
public schools often utilize as part of their ongoing career
development and exploration programs." Grasmick took no position on
the legislation in her letter and did not respond to a request for
comment from The Associated Press.

Defense Department spokeswoman Eileen Lainez said the data is used
both to screen students' enlistment eligibility and to determine
their interests and skills for nonmilitary careers. Asked about
criticism that the military is going around parents, Lainez said in
an e-mail that "parents and other influencers are in the best
position to help advise students of various career opportunities, and
the pros and cons associated with each of the choices."

Members of the Maryland Coalition to Protect Student Privacy, which
pushed for the legislation, argued the military isn't upfront about
the test's real purpose. Coalition member and high school teacher Pat
Elder said he became involved in the issue after volunteering on a
phone hot line for troubled soldiers. Many told him they hadn't
considered the military until a recruiter who'd seen their scores
contacted them.

"I've spoken to 'C' or 'D' students who are called by a recruiter and
told 'Dude, you're really good at this kind of stuff,' and that's
what it takes for them to join," said Elder, who teaches at the
Muslim Community School in Potomac, Md. "There is an insidious,
psychological element to these tests."

While Maryland is the first state to pass a law prohibiting the
automatic release of scores to military recruiters, some individual
school districts elsewhere, including the Los Angeles school system,
have policies to the same effect. Hawaii's Department of Education
implemented its statewide policy last year. Four Maryland counties -
Howard, Frederick, Montgomery and Prince George's - also blocked the
direct release of scores to recruiters before the state law was passed.

State legislators in California passed a similar measure in 2008, but
it was vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

School districts in Maryland have had different policies for when and
how they administer the roughly 3.5 hour multiple-choice exam. Some
school districts, like rural Allegany County, only offer the test to
students at a technical high school, while individual schools in the
Baltimore City district can choose whether to administer the exam.

Maryland state senator Jamie Raskin, D-Montgomery, said he sponsored
the bill partly because school districts' approaches varied. He said
constituents also told him they didn't think local school districts
knew their options.

"They thought they had to turn over information to recruiters," Raskin said.

Some argued that the measure was antimilitary. Baltimore County
Republican Sen. Andy Harris said the legislation gives students the
impression that they should be skeptical of military careers.

"I think sending any message while we're at war overseas that the
military in any way is not an honorable profession is the wrong
message to send," Harris said.

Del. Sheila Hixson, D-Montgomery, sponsored the bill in the House,
bristled at that argument.

"For me, it wasn't the military piece, it was the parental
permission," Hixson said. "Parents didn't know what was going on and
children didn't realize what was going on."

Toria Latnie, who now lives in Michigan, said a counselor at her
son's Florida charter high school told seniors in late 2008 that the
military aptitude test was a requirement for graduation. Latnie
researched the exam online and refused to allow her son to take the test.

"I was angry, very angry," said Latnie, a mother of five. "I felt
lied to, deceived, like people were trying to go behind my back and
give my child's private information to the military."

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