Exit exams out, mediocrity in: The decline and fall of US graduation standards
The title here is doing a lot of heavy lifting, and I think the tension underneath it is real. If a diploma no longer tells you that a student can do basic arithmetic or read a complex passage, what does it tell you? That's a fair question, and it deserves an honest answer, not just a shrug about how hard it is to measure global citizenship.
But I also understand why exit exams fell out of favor. They were blunt instruments. A single high-stakes test on one day could override four years of grades and effort, and research consistently showed those tests hit low-income students and students of color hardest. Dropping them didn't create mediocrity by itself; it reflected a genuine belief that schooling should be about more than what a bubble sheet can capture.
What I'd want to know next is what replaces the exams. If states are moving toward portfolios, project-based assessments, or competency models, that's a different story than simply removing the hurdle and calling it a day. The real danger is that we stop trying to measure anything at all. There's a middle ground between a single rigid test and no standards at all, and finding it seems like the actual work ahead.