States Moving Away From High School Exit Exams

Catherine Gewertz writes at the Education Week (12/9) "Curriculum Matters" blog that according to a new study from the Center on Education Policy, "fewer students are being required to pass exit exams to graduate from high school, but high school testing is increasing because more states are requiring college- and career-readiness tests," noting that the study's "findings are echoed in states' applications for waivers from the No Child Left Behind Act, as well." Gewertz cites such states as "Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee, which used to require exit exams, but now incorporate the scores from those tests into students' grades in a course they must take to graduate. The downward trend in required exit exams, though, is being offset by a rise in other kinds of tests."