Reaction to state school superintendent Susan Castillo’s recent announcement that Oregon is ready to “turn the page” on the controversial Certificate of Initial Mastery (CIM) and Certificate of Advanced Mastery (CAM) is summed up best as, “It’s about time,” quickly followed by condemnation of the state for not abandoning the unpopular 15-year-old experiment before.

It could be pure coincidence that Castillo’s announcement came so soon after the state Board of Education began collecting public ideas on how to improve the value of a high school education via its online survey, but we doubt it.

The CIM and CAM supplemental education programs were opposed from the start as a top-down edict imposed on teachers, and viewed with skepticism by parents and students. The well-intentioned idea of former Portland Mayor Vera Katz and former state schools Superintendent Norma Paulus sought to enhance the academic qualifications of high school graduates and assure colleges and employers that these students were ready for college or the job market. But teachers, parents and students often saw CIM as a “top-down” imposition of a vague mandate that was heavy on paperwork and light on tangible results.

Fewer than a third of all high school graduates pursued the CIM, and they usually were among the top graduates, whose academic proficiency wasn’t in question. Average students ignored CIM, and CAM never really got off the ground. Certainly the Legislature’s repeated reluctance to fund the programs didn’t help; neither did teachers’ assertion that they were now “teaching for the test” rather than focusing on teaching students how to learn.

None of this matters now; the question facing many states, in addition to Oregon, is how do we better academically prepare high school graduates to succeed in life? Certainly speeding up the 2009 timetable for requiring a fourth year of English and social studies and a third year of math would be a good start.

The biggest problem with speeding it up remains financing: The state’s K-12 education system doesn’t have a stable funding source, so districts must annually find ways to provide the Rolls Royce public education that the public expects with the available go-cart budget.

Although only the North Clackamas School District required CIM for graduation in Oregon, its original aim of assuring that a high school education prepares graduates to enter their adult lives remains a laudable goal.

Those who have labored so hard for so long to implement the CIM testing program with almost no money or support have something valuable to offer. They should be welcomed into the renewed discussion of how best to enhance the relevance of that devalued certificate of fledgling adult readiness, the high school diploma.