Dive Brief:
- Just six states — Florida, Ohio, Louisiana, New Jersey, Texas and Virginia — still require mandatory exit exams for high school graduation.
- Massachusetts and New York are the latest to move away from such a requirement and explore alternative options for student assessments.
- According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 24 states had an exit exam or graduation test during the 2013-14 academic year. By 2017, only 14 did.
Dive Insight:
Exit exams as a requirement for graduation are outdated, said Harry Feder, executive director of the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, or Fair Test.
The high-stakes nature of the exams can result in a narrow education and curriculum because of their influence on what gets taught, Feder said. As a result, things that aren't part of the graduation test may get less attention, and students may have fewer opportunities to pursue their own passions and strengths.
Feder added that exit exams can also have a disparate impact on marginalized student populations like English learners or students with disabilities.
Instead, Fair Test advocates for “authentic assessments” that evaluate students more holistically and realistically, reflecting how knowledge would be applied in the real world. This approach to assessment encourages student agency and critical thinking, according to Feder.
For instance, in science, an authentic performance-based evaluation could ask students to develop a hypothesis and then design and conduct an experiment to prove or disprove it.
The New York State Education Department revealed in November that it will phase out its required statewide regents exam by the 2027-28 school year. In its place, the state has created a “portrait of a graduate” highlighting proficiency areas for students.
That framework includes a broadening of how class credit is defined and a requirement that students have one career and technical education credit, which could include financial literacy. The state will also revamp transcripts to factor in standards proficiency, the portrait of a graduate, and new assessments “aligned to prioritized learning standards” by 2029-30.
While Massachusetts residents voted in early November to remove the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System high school exam as a graduation requirement, the ballot referendum will not fully eliminate the tests. The MCAS exam is also used for assessing student progress and for federal accountability purposes, but passing it will no longer be required for a diploma.
Instead, students will have to pass courses in English, math, science, technology and other areas determined by the state’s board of education. State Sen. Jason Lewis plans to file legislation requiring “an alternative, non-test-based, consistent and rigorous statewide graduation standard” based on MassCore, a series of recommended high school coursework requirements.
In a column reacting to the MCAS decision, Michael Petrilli, president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a conservative-leaning nonprofit think tank, suggested convening a bipartisan group of governors and state education chiefs to determine the best way to move forward on setting high school “pathways” policies in lieu of exit exam requirements.
Among his suggestions for creating these new diploma requirements are:
- Ensuring that students master core academic knowledge and skills by the end of 10th grade.
- Allowing 11th and 12th graders to choose from several college and career prep pathways.
- Addressing grade inflation.
- Making sure all postsecondary options set and enforce admissions standards.
- Closing funding gaps between CTE and traditional higher education.
Feder emphasized that moving away from exit exams is a state-level decision, and he encourages parents and schools pushing for alternatives to organize and advocate to key legislators.
“I think that we are transitioning nationally to a different notion of what it means to graduate high school,” Feder said. “There's a realization that school has to change, and for school to change, assessment has to change.”
