College Readiness Linked With Exit Exams In Some States

This piece comes to us courtesy of The Hechinger Report's Community College Spotlight blog.

Eight states have linked high-school exit exams to college-readiness standards such as Common Core and 10 more plan to do so, according to a new report, from the Center on Education Policy at George Washington University. The policy change reflects the "growing recognition that we are sending too many students into postsecondary education unprepared," Shelby McIntosh, the report's author, told the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Florida, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Virginia have linked exit exams to new standards.

Common Core State Standards, which have been adopted by 45 states and the District of Columbia, try to prepare high school graduates for skilled careers or college.

When states began to adopt high-school exit exams a decade ago, the focus was on ensuring that students were mastering state curriculum standards. But with the national push to produce more college graduates and a better trained work force, the focus has changed to include college and career readiness, says the report from the Center on Education Policy.

An estimated 60 percent of new students at community colleges are placed in remedial courses in reading, writing and -- especially -- math.