High-School Exit Tests Don't Mean Readiness

By PAUL BASKEN

High-school exit examinations are becoming increasingly popular in the United States, with a "major impact" on how students are taught, the Center on Education Policy, an advocacy group, concluded in a report released last week.

That doesn't mean American colleges are seeing better-prepared freshmen, however, because most high-school exit exams do not appear to be aligned with the knowledge and skills that are necessary for college readiness, the Washington-based center found. Of the

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Past Coverage

High-School Exit Exams Boom, but Students Still May Be Unready for College - September 6, 2007
State High-School Exit Tests Do Not Improve Academic Achievement, Study Finds - May 13, 2008
High-School Exit Exams Linked to Higher Dropout Rates, Researchers Find - July 14, 2006
High-School Exams May Affect Colleges - September 3, 2004
More States Modify Their High-School Exit Tests - August 13, 2008

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