Monday, January 28, 2008

Tennessee Approves Tougher Student Standards

From Ed Week:Tennessee Approves Tougher Student Standards:
The state Board of Education has approved tougher standards for Tennessee students and dropped the Gateway exams.

The new guidelines include math all four years of high school and mandatory chemistry or physics in addition to biology.

The requirements will take affect in the 2009-10 school year and will affect current 7th graders.

The Gateway exams are a series of tests that have been required for students to get a diploma.

Other changes approved Friday include aligning language arts and math standards for students in kindergarten through 12th grade with national standards.
Instead of the Gateway exams, the state is proposing a series of 10 year end tests that would account for 25 percent of a students grade (enough to save a struggling student, but not enough to tank a good performer.
The goal is to have the exams in 10 courses: English 1, 2, and 3; algebra 1 and 2; geometry; U.S. history; biology; chemistry; and physics. The exams have yet to be developed.
Here is going to be the test for Tennessee, will they stick with the 10 tests when students start failing them?

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