Dive Brief:
- Rhode Island's plan to give high school seniors a test in order to graduate may be placed on hold.
- State Education Commissioner Deborah Gist recommends that the graduation assessment plan be placed on hold for another three years, until 2020, and suggests the Board of Education's Council on Elementary and Secondary Education hold public hearings before making any decisions.
- Rhode Island originally planned to give the graduation test in 2012.
Dive Insight:
Gist is speaking out against the new exams, saying she has received feedback from teachers, parents, and students and wants to give everyone time to adapt to the new college readiness exam and Common Core Standards first.
The idea of making seniors take yet another standardized test in order to graduate sounds draining. Most likely, these students will not only be on checkout, but their entire school careers will have been dictated by testing. The state already has enough to think about with Common Core changes — tacking on one more exam may feel futile.