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A rigorous instructional program tied to high standards builds student knowledge and strengthens critical thinking skills, while fair assessments monitor progress and truly measure what students know and can do.
Stronger links need to be built between high school, college and careers to align high school graduation requirements with college expectations.
Studies show that all students can benefit from a high-level college-preparatory curriculum. The American Diploma Project recommends higher standards drawing on:
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Math content including Algebra I, Algebra II, Geometry, and Data Analysis and Statistics
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English content that includes strong oral and written communication skills
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Advanced analytic and reasoning skills
The minimums recommended by the National Commission on Excellence in Education are four English, three Social Studies, three Science, three Math and two Foreign Language courses. To date, 26 states require, or are planning to require, that students pass a high school exit exam in order to graduate.
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Public Education Network's Position
A well-designed, large-scale standardized achievement-testing program is an essential element of a fully matured, standards-based public education system.
Such tests serve a variety of critical instructional and accountability purposes: They can provide students with an incentive to study hard and do well. They can provide rich diagnostic information for classroom and school-level decisions about appropriate instructional practice. They can be an important source of external validation on how well children are learning to standards and thus provide critical guidance on policy decisions at the district, community, state, and national levels.
To meet the demands of a rich, rigorous curriculum, students need adequate instructional resources (books, supplies, materials and labs) in their classrooms. They need up-to-date technology and libraries with print and electronic materials so that they can operate as centers of learning. Students need access to high-level courses and to guidance counselors who encourage them to take those courses. Students need opportunities to demonstrate their progress on tests and other assessments that are aligned to standards and curriculum. Students, families and teachers need regular reports on student and school progress.
Source:
Kober, N., Zabala, D., Chudowsky, N., Chudowsky, V., Gayler, K., and McMurrer, J. State High School Exit Exams: A Challenging Year. Center for Education Policy. August 2006.
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