Exit Exams

http://www.fairtest.org/graduation-tests-will-harm-students-judith-browned

I found this article about the state of Maryland requiring seniors to pass a series of four standardized tests before graduations. The author is very against this idea because she feels that it will take away from the curriculum in the classroom and that it punishes students who have performed well in the classroom but may not test as well. I know that we have discussed this idea in detail before, if not in this class then in my assessment class. While I do think that strictly teaching to the test is not the ideal for our classrooms in the future, I think that an exit exam of some kind is not an out of question proposition. It is a standard test that everyone across the state would have to pass to have a diploma from that particular state. I know that we have something similar in South Carolina. It suggests that everyone graduating from the state possesses a certain amount of knowledge that is consistent throughout the state, regardless of what high school you graduated from. While I do believe that colleges should put more weight on grades in the classroom, I do think that exit exams are beneficial as well.