Eleanor Chute. "GRADUATION TESTS GAINING MOMENTUM. " Pittsburgh Post - Gazette 27 Apr. 2009,US & Midwestern Newspapers, ProQuest. Web. 7 Oct. 2010.
The idea of graduation competency exams once was so controversial that more than 20 statewide organizations opposed it, about 200 school boards passed resolutions against it and state legislators blocked the state Board of Education from acting on changing graduation requirements. However, things have changed and now even groups that opposed a graduation exam are in favor of the theme of state-created end-of-course tests for high school students. In one variation, school districts voluntarily would have their students take end-of-course tests, but the tests could count for no more than 20 percent of the grade. Last month, in Pennsylvania, the state Department of Education and the Pennsylvania School Boards Association reached a compromise called Keystone Exams.The Keystone Exams would aim to preserve local control and emphasize the exams would be voluntary. And, it also would split the cost of validating local assessments between the state and local districts, instead of just putting the cost solely on the local districts.
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