The state Board of Education did Wednesday what some had advocated for the past decade: eliminated the requirement students pass the Georgia High School Graduation Test to receive a diploma.
The test, which has been the gateway to high school graduation since 1995, no longer will be given to students starting with next fall's freshman class and will be phased out for current students.
"I appreciate the state board's vote that finally allows us to move away from the GHSGT," state school Superintendent John Barge said after the board's unanimous vote.
All students are required to pass eight mandatory classes to graduate from high school. The plan approved Wednesday ups the pressure on them, starting with next year's freshman class, to score better on the end-of-course tests in each of the eight classes.
Those tests currently account for 15 percent of a student's final class grade, but starting with next year's freshman class that will be upped to 20 percent.
In addition, those end-of-course test results will take on greater significance for individual schools and school districts. Starting next year they will replace the graduation test results as a measure of whether a school makes adequate yearly progress, a benchmark of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, said Melissa Fincher, associate state school superintendent of assessment and accountability.
As for current high school students, they will be allowed to substitute a passing end-of-course test in each content area for the equivalent content section of the graduation test. The graduation test can still be an option for those who aren't successful on their end-of-course tests, and their test scores stay at 15 percent of their class grade.
All students -- current and new -- still must pass the state writing test, which was one part of the five-part GHSGT.
Barge said he believes the end-of-course tests are a better gauge than the GHSGT of how much a student has learned.
"The EOCTs are much more rigorous, and they test a student immediately following a course, rather than waiting until a student's junior year to determine whether or not he or she has mastered the content of our curriculum," he said.
As early as 2000, Gov. Roy Barnes was pushing to replace the high school graduation test with the end-of-course tests, which were created under Barnes' A-Plus Education Reform legislation. In the years since, the board had looked at eliminating the graduation test but took no action.
State school board member Linda Zechmann voiced concern that students with good grades heading into the end-of-course tests might have little incentive to try to score high.
"Schools may suffer," she said, referring to test results' bearing on AYP.
Over the past three years, at least 3,000 students failed the graduation test multiple times and had to petition the state Board of Education in order obtain their diplomas.
Just in the past few weeks, 100,000 high school juniors and seniors have taken the graduation test.
Several other states, including Florida, are moving to end-of-course tests to evaluate whether students are ready to graduate.
How the graduation test will be phased out
*For current students:
End-of-course tests will still count toward 15 percent of a student's grade. The Georgia High School Graduation Test will still be given, though this year's senior class will be the last to be required to take it as a condition of graduation. Flexibility is being introduced to allow students to substitute a passing end-of-course test in each of the four content areas for the equivalent content section of the graduation test in the core subject areas of English/language arts, math, science and social studies.
*For the 2011-2012 freshman class
The Georgia High School Graduation Test will not be given. Students will have to pass eight courses: ninth grade literature and American literature; Math 1 and Math 2 (or in systems that offer them, Algebra and Geometry); physical science (or physics) and biology; and U.S. history and economics. The end-of-course tests in these subjects will now count 20 percent of the course grade, up from 15 percent.
*All students still have to take the writing portion of the Georgia High School Graduation Test.
All this could change when Common Core standards are put in place in 2014.
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