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Local business leaders accused school districts of graduating students who are unqualified and unprepared for the work force while educators argued that more testing won't improve student achievement during a special public hearing of the state board of education Thursday at Parkland High School.

''You cannot make the assumption that scoring less than proficient is failure

Adams told the board that many of her students have a learning disability or simply don't test well, but are diligent workers and eager to learn. They are now college students, skilled workers, or serve in the armed forces. But they might not have been able to graduate if they were required to pass a test. Some would have eventually passed, but others would have dropped out, she said.

(3)  Social studies.      (i)   History. Study of the record of human experience including important events; interactions of culture, race and ideas; the nature of prejudice; change and continuity in political systems; effects of technology; importance of global-international perspectives; and the integration of geography, economics and civics studies on major developments in the history of the Commonwealth, the United States and the world.      (ii)   Geography. Study of relationships among people, places and environments, of geographic tools and methods, characteristics of place, concept of region and physical processes.      (iii)   Civics and government. Study of United States constitutional democracy, its values and principles, study of the Constitution of the Commonwealth and government including the study of principles, operations and documents of government, the rights and responsibilities of citizenship, how governments work and international relations.      (iv)   Economics. Study of how individuals and societies choose to use resources to produce, distribute and consume goods and services. Knowledge of how economies work, economic reasoning and basic economic concepts, economic decision making, economic systems, the Commonwealth and the United States economy and international trade.

As the first generation of computer-literate students works their way through the school system, they are learning from interactive programs.

The technology also helps teachers craft individual lesson plans based on a student's ability and share data with parents.

She said she brings her students to the computer lab before she starts any new chapter in math to give the class a pre-test. Odyssey creates an instant spreadsheet for Clipper, showing her how every student answered each question.