JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – Teachers overwhelmingly voted to cut the U.S. History end-of-course exam from the high school graduation requirement. The poll was conducted by the Mississippi Student Testing Task Force.
The results show 77% of high school teachers answered “no” when asked if Mississippi should continue the U.S. History end-of-course exam. Of the totaled 3,123 high school teachers, 23% voted to keep the exam.
Following the poll, the Mississippi Student Testing Task Force voted 9-2 to recommend the Mississippi State Board of Education (SBE) cut the test from the four required tests for graduation.
“I am pleased to see that the State Department of Education has finally recognized that we have a testing problem in Mississippi…I hope to see the State Board of Education take the recommendation from the task force to abolish the History test as a graduation requirement.
Let’s hope they will not stop here and go on to the next step by adopting the ACT as the evaluation tool for college readiness — like the other states are doing. This will save time, money, and help end the excessive testing burden of our students and teachers.”
Tom Miles, Mississippi House of Representatives (District 75)
The SBE will make the final decision after presenting the poll and recommendation to the Commission on School Accreditation (CSA) on August 19th.
The U.S. History end-of-course exam is the only test not required by federal law. The federally required end-of-course exams are Biology, Algebra I and English II.
If the SBE eliminates the test, it will remain a requirement until the 2020-2021 school year.
