The state Board of Education placed a plan to phase out the Georgia High School Graduation Test on its agenda Wednesday and will take an official vote in April.
The test has been the gateway to graduation for Georgia's high school students since 1995.
The board, following a national trend, wants to eliminate the four-part graduation test and put more emphasis on eight tougher end-of-course tests.
"This has been an ongoing process," said Matt Cardoza, spokesman for the Georgia Department of Education. "This is a plan that will finally move us away from the high school graduation test while keeping rigor in place."
Under the proposal, high school freshmen next fall will not have to take the GHSGT.
They will be required to pass eight courses and, for each course, must pass a test that counts as 20 percent their final grade.
Next year's sophomores, juniors and seniors will have the option of passing all four parts of the graduation test or the equivalent end-of-course tests.
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