Graduation policy

Here's one in today's Washington Post:

Maryland school officials proudly noted last week that more than 90 percent of
students in the Class of 2009 expected to earn a diploma had passed one of four
tests required to graduate. But testing data provided to The Washington
Post by local school systems indicate that the number of students who have
passed a test is substantially lower.

So, not only did the state inflate its numbers by nearly 10,000, only a little over 42,000 out of 55,000 (76%) actually passed one of the four required exams for the State to graduate them? In other words, thanks to the huge push for "accountability," about 1/4 of the students in the Class of 2009 won't actually be graduating? What the state didn't release was how many students passed all four of their required exams. If I was to guess, I would bet that only about 1/4 of the students (though probably less) managed to pass all of those exams.

What does the state do? We can't get rid of these tests we have put so much time and energy into creating, and the No Child Left Behind law says that we have to have standardized tests to hold schools accountable...

Let's just give them another option! So if you don't pass the required-to-graduate exams, all you have to do is this project, and we'll give you your diploma anyway.