California’s high-school exit examinations in English are well aligned with community-college placement tests, but they do not match up well in mathematics, according to a new report by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education.
The disconnect in math may explain why many community-college students in California must take remedial math, according to the report, “Investigating the Alignment of High School and Community College Assessments in California.”
However, a significant number of the students must also do remedial work in English, even though high-school and college expectations seem to be aligned. That finding indicates that many students graduate from high school without ever mastering the material they were taught there, the report says. —Elyse Ashburn
