"Three strikes and you're safe." That's what some state lawmakers would like to tell Minnesota high school students. Under legislation being considered, students who fail to pass the high school GRAD exam in reading and math three times would ... graduate. Yep. Graduate.

The Graduation-Required Assessments for Diploma replaces the Basic Skills Test (BSTs) as Minnesota's high school exit exam. Beginning with the class of 2010, students are supposed to pass GRAD before receiving their diplomas. The test doesn't apply to many special-education students or to English-language learners who have only been here for a few years. But, written with Minnesota teachers, the GRAD represents what we expect high school students to know, based on our own, home-grown academic standards.

Right now, legislators and school officials are experiencing "test anxiety." The passing score for the math GRAD hasn't even been set yet. But rumors are flying that thousands of this year's juniors may not pass the exam -- despite having three chances -- and won't graduate next year.

That thousands of students can't do grade-level reading or math is a huge problem. The GRAD, however, is just the messenger. If an enormous number of students aren't at grade level, the appropriate response is to do whatever it takes to get them up to speed. Because their future -- and ours -- depends on it. We're competing in a technology-driven global economy that prizes innovation and demands higher-level skills. We can't afford to back away from high academic standards and abandon a key to our competitiveness when others around the world are pushing their performance higher.

When Minnesota created the BSTs, the first generation of "high-stakes tests" in the 1990s, I was a state representative from Anoka. These really were basic skills. To graduate, students needed to read and do math at the eighth-grade level. Yet, when it looked like more than 5,000 students in the class of 2000 might not graduate because they hadn't passed the BSTs, legislators heard the same arguments they're hearing today. "The tests are too hard." "The tests are unfair." "It will be a disaster if so many students don't graduate."

But lawmakers held firm. And newspapers carried stories about schools redoubling their efforts to help struggling students. By the time the BSTs were phased out in 2005, the anxiety had all but disappeared. The bar -- once thought to be too high -- had become too low.

Minnesota's commitment to high standards and high-stakes tests is paying dividends. Results from the 2007 Trends in International Math and Science Study showed a dramatic improvement in our fourth- and eighth-grade math performance compared with other nations. Analysis by SciMathMN credits Minnesota's academic standards and assessments for much of the improvement. Schools have aligned their curricula with Minnesota's standards and spend more time teaching math at all levels than they did in the 1990s. As a result, our kids are better at math.

Unfortunately, some lawmakers -- echoing a common student complaint -- now argue that not everyone needs to know algebra. Solving linear equations may not come up every day. But as Eric Jolly, president of the Science Museum of Minnesota, points out: Algebra is the gateway to higher-level thinking and learning. By requiring everyone to study algebra, we will ensure that the quality of Minnesota's workforce continues to be an advantage. Because, let's face it, eighth-grade reading and math skills aren't going to attract employers with high-quality, high-paying jobs.

The test anxiety that students, educators and lawmakers are experiencing is real. But it will pass -- if lawmakers hold firm -- and Minnesota will be better prepared for the future.

Charlie Weaver is executive director of the Minnesota Business Partnership.