Alabama students automatically will be placed on a more rigorous graduation track when they enter high school under a plan the state Board of Education approved Thursday. But the plan also helps struggling students earn diplomas by relaxing exit exam requirements for those who follow the less rigorous credit-based graduation track.
"We want to have the best-prepared high school graduates in America," state school Superintendent Joe Morton said, "and graduate everyone."
Now, students on the credit-based track must pass only three sections of the state's graduation exam to earn a diploma, instead of all five. Under the changes, the 8 percent of students who don't pass all sections of the exit exam must pass only three in order to earn a diploma. Two of those three sections must be reading and math. Under the old standards, students who passed all their course work but didn't pass every section of the exam received certificates of attendance. Only students who receive diplomas are counted as graduates. For 12 years, the advanced-diploma track has been an opt-in program, he said. Now, incoming freshmen by default will be put on the advanced track, also called the college track, which includes two years of a foreign language and more rigorous math classes.
