Federal Judge Rules That Texas Exit Exam Is Constitutional

By Mary Ann Zehr

A federal judge's ruling this month that the graduation exam in Texas is constitutional doesn't mean other states should assume their own exit exams could survive a legal challenge, some observers cautioned last week.

"Each state does it differently, so [they] need to take a careful look at how they're doing," said Kathy Christie, a policy analyst for the Denver-based Education Commission of the States. "Any time you have a challenge to something like the exit exam in Texas, it's a good heads-up for folks. It makes people more cognizant, more careful, more attuned to some pitfalls."

At issue in the Texas case was whether the requirement that students pass a state test to graduate from high school violated the constitutional and civil rights of blacks and Hispanics. Students in those groups generally do more poorly on the...