State lawmakers have passed a bill that would drop four end-of-course tests currently required for students in high school.
If the bill becomes law, high schoolers would no longer be required to take tests in U-S History, Civics and Economics, Algebra II and Physical Science. The bill's sponsors say right now instructors have to spend too much time teaching to the tests, rather than showing students how to think. Until October, high school students were required to pass those tests in order to be promoted to the next grade. The State Board of Education voted to drop that requirement, but the tests are still used to measure how well schools are doing. Wake County Superior Court Judge Howard Manning has warned legislators that eliminating the tests would be unconstitutional. But his opinion hasn't mattered much to lawmakers, who passed the bill in the Senate earlier today. It passed through the House earlier this week.
