ATLANTA
State board of education members are considering a proposal that would require teens to pass at least nine exams before they earn their high school diploma nearly twice as many tests as they take now.
The new end-of-course exams would replace the state’s current high school graduation test, which is 16 years old and has been criticized because most students easily pass it.
The additional subject exams have not yet been developed, and state board members would have to formally approve the policy. Federal officials would also have to sign off on the changes.
“A lot of principals and teachers say it’s going to make a big difference in how seriously kids take high school,” State Superintendent of Schools Kathy Cox told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which obtained a confidential draft of the proposal.
Cox also warned against implementing the new testing system if it is approved without giving teachers enough time for training, saying that it could cut the graduation rate to 50 percent.
State lawmakers for years were preparing to replace the five-part graduation exam now given to high school juniors with End of Course tests eight standardized exams taken throughout a student’s high school career. The tests were introduced four years ago, but making the full switch was complicated by problems meeting federal standards in the No Child Left Behind Act.
