Culminating project
Open-knowledge reference entry

A culminating project (also known as a senior project, grad project or exit project), is a project that challenges high school seniors to demonstrate their academic knowledge in an experiential way (in most cases). According to the United States Department of Education, State Education Boards typically allow individual school districts to customize the project, based on basic state guidelines.
Confusion about the culminating project
People reporting on the culminating project sometimes confuse the terminology with the state high school exit exam. The state exit exam is a written exam that usually tests student's math, reading, writing, and science skills, whereas the culminating project is a required project that is usually a learning experience based on a topic chosen by the student. The project is mandatory in order to graduate.
Purpose
The purpose of the project is to increase both teaching and learning. High school graduation standards have declined for several decades. School reform or the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 is a way to bring value back to the high school diploma as well as support students as they go out into the world prepared for college, a job, the military, entrepreneurship, internship, or whatever path students decide to follow once they graduate.
Why a project is required
The requirement is an effort to increase education standards. As college admissions and the workplace require more from their recruits, nationwide high schools must also.
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This entry incorporates text from “Culminating project” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.