Tomorrow, the N.C. House Committee on Education will consider “HB 587: AN ACT to exempt eleventh grade students enrolled in the occupational course of study or the extended course of study from the ACT Testing requirement.” It seems to be a logical extension of “S14: AN ACT to direct the state board of education to develop career And college endorsements for high school diplomas, increase access to career and technical education teachers in public schools, And to work with the state board of community colleges to increase the number of students enrolling in career and technical education in high need employment areas” which the Governor signed into law in February.
Before voting, the members should ask a few questions:
First, what’s the point of requiring all students to take the ACT in the first place: To encourage them to go to college? To measure whether they’ve gained meaningful academic skills in high school? To give them signals about what kind of work they’re prepared for in the future?
And, if the ACT measures something meaningful, why exempt some students: To remove one extra barrier to graduation? To make North Carolina’s scores look better? To incentivize the vocational track? To end the practice of “teaching to the test” where possible?
Since the bill is simply an exemption to another NC statute, it lacks the usual “whereas” clauses explaining the bill’s purpose. Perhaps legislators will find out tomorrow in committee.
