North Carolina has figured out how to raise the number of adults with a high school diploma:
Because of a retroactive change in state graduation requirements, some students who didn’t pass the state competency tests as far back as 1981 may now get a high-school diploma.
In Forsyth County, an average of 30 to 40 students in each graduating class since 1981 could be eligible for a diploma, said Kenneth Simington, the assistant superintendent for student services for Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools.
Eligible students are those who completed all requirements for graduation except passing the state competency tests in reading and mathematics and passing the N.C. computer-skills test.
The state’s General Assembly eliminated the exams going forward as part of budget cuts, and in the process retroactively declared that all the money spent in the past on those tests was essentially a waste. Not to mention the effects on the thousands of students who were subject to the requirement (the ones who passed and the ones who were told they failed), or the time and effort it took to prepare for and take the exams. Yet another reason to think beyond high school exit exams.
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5/11/2012 | Kevin Carey talks to Salon about the government's role in rising student debt.
5/8/2012 | Kevin Carey discusses the problem of rising tuition and student loan interest rates with The Nation. 
5/4/2012 | Stephen Burd talks to Education Week about student loan debt and help from Congress.
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