CONTACT:
Ben Weintraub (212-675-8567)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

High School Exit Exams: Best Practices
Recent research encourages schools to offer remedial assistance, through interventions such as Merit Software, to help students pass High School exit exams.

Website Link:
http://www.meritsoftware.com/software/language_arts/index.php

Last month, the Center on Education Policy, http://www.cep-dc.org/pubs/hseeAugust2006/, reported that more than two-thirds of all U.S. public high school students are currently required to take high school exit exams. This percentage will grow, to at least 70%, by the year 2012 as more states implement their own exams.

States are taking different approaches to dealing with exit exams. A few states have now begun to withhold diplomas from failing students. Others have become more proactive in helping students pass the tests.

Although passing rates for first try students range by state between 70 to 90 percent, alarming disparities in exam performance persist for many minority, low-income, and learning disabled students, as well as English language learners.

The report finds that schools can efficiently increase passing rates if they provide remediation for students.

Merit Software is one of only a handful of educational products that has been demonstrated to improve secondary level student test scores in reading and math. Within the past few months, two research articles showing the effectiveness of Merit as a supplement to instruction were published in academic journals. Summaries of the research can be found at http://research.meritsoftware.com.

Remedial students have been shown to make striking gains with the software. It is also affordable and easy to implement. For administrators working with a limited budget, Merit is an ideal option.

ABOUT MERIT SOFTWARE:

Since 1983, Merit Software (www.meritsoftware.com) has been producing educational software that addresses the core competencies that students require to succeed. The emphasis is on strengthening students' ability to read, analyze data and communicate their ideas.

Merit Software's programs are known throughout the industry for providing context-sensitive tutorials for students and convenient record management features to aid teachers, tutors and parents.

Visit www.meritsoftware.com to examine the company's library of educational applications currently being used in thousands of educational facilities worldwide.

Merit's educational software has been the subject of rigorous, independent, scientific-based research. These studies have concluded that Merit's software provides an effective supplement to everyday instruction. Research findings are available on www.meritsoftware.com/research.

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