State Urgency Over Exit Tests Fades With Time.

The article reports that California state officials are assisting high school seniors who have been unable to earn a diploma because they failed the state's graduation test. The classes of 2006 in California, Arizona, and Utah are those states' first that must pass high school exit exams to earn diplomas. In most states with such a requirement, students take the high school exit examination for the first time in sophomore year. The content on the tests is usually at a 10th grade level. Students, who fail, usually have several opportunities to retake the tests. Of the 23 states currently requiring graduation tests, 16 require that schools offer remediation to students who have failed them. State-financed remediation is most prevalent in states that are introducing their exit exams.