The release of pass rates on Maryland's high school assessments is taking place a little later than expected this year. The last word I had from the state was it would release the data in September, about a month later than first anticipated.

But in the meantime, there's an interesting report out on the subject by the Center on Education Policy, an indepedent nonprofit based in Washington, D.C., that has been closely monitoring how education policies like No Child Left Behind are affecting schools around the nation.

The national movement toward requiring high schoolers to pass a series of exit exams before they can get a diploma appears to be sputtering, according to the report released last week. Last year, Washington was the only state to begin witholding diplomas based on the tests. Three more states, including Maryland, will have implemented the tests in the next several years bringing to 26 the number of states that will require the exams for graduation.

But the report says that two of three states considering adopting exit exams backed down in the face of public opposition and have now opted to allow the use of "multiple measures" in their graduation requirements.

Still, the report says, these exams are having a "signficant impact" on American education. Today, 68 percent of the nation's high school students will have to take the tests, and that figure will soon rise to 74 percent. And perhaps most importantly, impact of the exams on students of color is the greatest. About 84 percent of the students of color in the country live in those 26 states that have or will soon have exit exams.

The subject is particularly sensitive here in Maryland this year because this year's seniors will be the first class to have to pass the end-of- course exams to get a diploma.

A portion of the report that uses January 2008 data says that 88 percent of students in the Class of 2009 have passed all the tests or have met a minimum combined score average to graduate.

Students of color are far more affected. So while 95 percent of white students are passing, only 74 percent of African American students and 85 percent of Latino students are passing.

But students who may have the most trouble are special education students and poor students,  who have met the standards by 53 percent and 73 percent respectively.