Many pathways to a diploma, but are students really prepared?

States are dropping exit exams and creating a variety of "pathways" to a diploma, reports Kalyn Belsha on Chalkbeat. But the quality of the alternatives varies.

Photo: Jenny Jimenez

Washington state rolled out its diploma pathways to graduation five years ago. Graduation rates for students who aren’t college-bound rose, "which was part of the goal," she writes. However, now that pandemic-era waivers have expired, 20 percent of seniors are not on a graduation pathway and are not on track to graduate on time. "That’s similar to the share of students who didn’t graduate on time in 2019, the final year of the exit exam."

Asian and white students are much more likely to complete one of the college-prep pathways, "while Native students, English learners, and students with disabilities are more likely to have no graduation pathway," writes Belsha.

Career-bound students have few choices at smaller and rural schools, a state report found. "Some career pathways train students for low-paying jobs with little opportunity for advancement," she writes. "Some students get funneled to the military pathway, despite having no aspirations to serve, because the aptitude test is easier to pass."

Twenty years ago, states were raising graduation requirements and adding exit exams to prepare more students for college, Belsha notes. By 2012, "half of all states required an exit exam, including Washington state."

But low achievers -- primarily from lower-income, black and Hispanic families -- had trouble passing the courses and the exams. California's test required middle-school reading and math skills. It was a four-option, multiple-choice test. The passing score was 55 percent on the math portion, 60 percent on the English Language Arts section. When students failed it, again and again, critics said: The test is keeping them from going to college! What future will they have without a high school diploma? Few asked: What future will they have without reading, writing and math skills?

Like Washington state and many others, California gave up on the exit exam. Soon, only four states will require students to pass an exam to graduate.

Alternatives have blossomed. "Nearly half of states offer multiple diploma options or graduation pathways," Belsha reports. "Many have struggled to address the same big questions, including what exactly high school is for, and what students should need to do to earn a diploma."

Indiana is revising its pathways, and Washington's state board of education plans to rethink graduation requirements.

Creating more options isn't the answer, says Brian Jeffries, policy director at the Partnership for Learning and a member of the state task force that’s looking at graduation requirements. “Let’s better prepare our students to meet the pathways, [rather] than keep creating a smorgasbord or a cafeteria of options, which too often turn into trapdoors.”

Dropping the exit exam had "broad support from the Washington teachers union, state education officials, and parents," Belsha writes. "Lawmakers passed it unanimously." One in 10 Washington state seniors failed the English language arts portion, and 1 in 5 didn’t pass the math test, in the final year.

So, the 20 percent of students who failed the old exam are now failing to complete an alternative pathway to graduation.