High school tests typically measure 8th, 9th and 10th grade skills — only a subset of the skills students will ultimately need after graduation. Very few states measure students' readiness for college and careers and, all too often, colleges use admissions and placement exams that are, by and large, disconnected from the curriculum students study in high school. (Achieve)

The result: Colleges and employers pay little attention to state test results, sending a signal to students and parents that student performance on those tests does not matter.

States must build measures of college and career readiness into their high school assessment systems and test high school students before their senior year to determine whether they are on track for credit-bearing postsecondary courses and careers. That way, schools will be able to work with high school students to close learning gaps before graduation. Postsecondary institutions can then confidently use these results for placement decisions.

Regardless of the type of assessment a state adopts, the measure of college and career readiness must be well aligned with state high school standards. It is also paramount that K-12 and higher education systems come together to ensure alignment of the tested knowledge and skills, as well as the alignment of testing policies for the next-generation college- and career-ready assessments, to meet the needs of both systems and, more importantly, the needs of the students.

Why It's Important

Taking tests in high school helps students succeed in college and the workplace. (Achieve)

• Virtually all employers (94 percent) and the vast majority of college instructors (85 percent) say that giving students college placement tests when they are juniors to find out whether they are ready for college-level work or where they need to fill gaps in their learning would improve students’ chances of success.

Using high school test results for college placement and ultimately for hiring decisions sends a clear signal to students about what is important to know. (Achieve)

• Ten states currently administer high schools assessments that are used by postsecondary for placement decisions.
• 23 states plan to use high school assessments for college admissions and/or placement decisions.

Administering tests in the junior or senior year of high school allows states to measure content more closely aligned with postsecondary and workplace expectations (Achieve)

• Most states administer tests in the 10th grade. These tests focus on the more rudimentary content covered in middle school and early high school grades.
• Only five states administer upper-grade-level assessments in all three subjects, math, English Language Arts and science.
• Only three states currently use comprehensive high school tests, given in grade 11, to measure students’ college and career readiness.

Students and the public support graduation exams

• Eighty percent of the general public favors requiring students to pass a statewide graduation test. (Educational Testing Service)
• Four in five (81 percent) students polled say that their schools would be improved if they required students to pass exams in math and English to graduate. (Horatio Alger)