State Democrats say school testing proposal needs more work

Thursday, April 6th 2006, 6:56 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Democratic lawmakers say legislation that would require high school students to pass exit exams in order to graduate will leave some Oklahoma students behind.

A day after the state House passed the bill, a dozen Democrats who voted against it renewed complaints that it could increase the state's dropout rate.

The bill would require students to pass four of seven end-of-instruction tests in order to graduate from high school. The tests would cover classes like English Two and Three, Algebra One and Two, Geometry, US History and Biology.

Oklahoma high school students must currently take four end-of-instruction exams but do not have to pass them to graduate.