Fewer Requirements for Graduation
by Mike McClanahan
CBS 42 News
2008-05-13 17:28:03.0
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If you pass 3 of Alabama's 5 High School graduation exams, with 2 of the 3 being in math and reading, and complete your regular course work, you can graduate High School in
Jefferson
County effective immediately.
Tuesday morning the Jefferson County School Board approved new graduation standards set forth by the state, which don't require students to pass all 5 exit exams to earn a diploma.
Lillian Hunsinger, the Director of Curriculum Instruction for Jefferson County Schools, said it was a good move. "It is like many of us who graduated earlier. We graduated simply with credits. No additional testing was required," said Lillian Hunsinger.
Superintendent Dr. Phil Hammonds hopes it will cut down on the number of frustrated seniors who drop out after narrowly missing the mark. "Now that incentive is there that if they pass 3 out of the 5, again with reading and math having to be two of those, that provides a little more incentive of that child remaining in school," said Dr. Phil Hammonds.
Some states do not have any high school exit exams and Alabama has some of the toughest graduation requirements in the nation, according to
Hammonds. He added that a high school diploma was a necessary prerequisite for the vast majority of jobs, including custodial positions in county schools.
Hammonds said the new option will open a gateway to college admission, a good job, and a bright future for more than two dozen county high school seniors this term. Although they take effect immediately, the less stringent requirements are not retroactive, and may leave former students who would have met the new criteria, but failed to graduate- feeling shafted.
Because the state Board of Education recognizes the new diploma, Hammonds said college admissions offices would accept it. He said that it would be weighed along with ACT and SAT scores when evaluating applicants.
The Alabama Board of Education estimated that 3% of High School Seniors who wouldn't otherwise graduate will be eligible for the new credit based diploma.
Meanwhile, the advanced diploma has replaced the regular diploma as the standard academic track for all state high school students unless they opt out.
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