CA Judge Tosses Exit Exam

I have written extensively on this blog about high stakes testing. Testing is the oil for the engine of school reform. We are fast moving toward preschool - college (P - 16) tracking of students. Educrats need testing for career tracking. That reform suffered a setback when a California judge ruled that their state exam is unfair to minorities. It is a setback but unfortunately not a complete casualty. The reform effort continues to move forward.

According to the LA Times,

Nationwide, 19 other states with about half of the country's students require seniors to pass an exit exam, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Center on Education Policy. Six more states are developing exams.

The trend is toward an exit exam and choosing career majors in high school. Further, a growing number of states are abandoning their own test in favor of the the ACT. (MI did so in December of '05) Colorado, Illinois, and Kentucky are also using the ACT. If this trend continues it will eventually build into a de facto national exam. It will be interesting to watch how California handles their testing if the judge's ruling stands. A high stakes graduation exam is bad news for homeschoolers. We may be exempt from the exam but not the effects of the exam.

I'll have more to share on this soon.

Related Tags: national testing, California exit exam, ACT, homeschooling, school reform, No Child Left Behind, NCLB, high stakes testing