SK> -> *2   SHELL SHOCK:  ARKANSAS OFFICIALS DISMAYED WITH TEST RESULTS
SK> -> Ark. students taking a pilot high school graduation exam
SK> -> failed in shockingly high numbers (Howell, Arkansas DEMOCRAT-
SK> -> GAZETTE, 7/13).  According to the paper, 98% of students failed 
SK> the
SK> -> math portion and 89% did not pass the reading section.  
    Exit exams are no panacea for quality assurance in education.  A college 
I attended (and my father taught at) required exit exams in the major to 
graduate, but it had the worst academic standards of any college my father 
taught at.
    At that school, students only got 3 chances to take the exit exams.  Most 
all passed, but that included a great many who'd done very poorly in their 
coursework. 
    Discussions with various profs I had in college found few believe that 
the students in their freshmen-level courses remember enough of the exams 
they passed with a C or better to pass them 3 weeks later, so I doubt that 
any meaningful exit exam can avoid a high failure rate.
--- Simplex BBS (v1.07.00Beta [DOS])
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