Desiree Hunter
Associated Press
Published: May 9, 2008

MONTGOMERY - The State Board of Education voted unanimously Thursday to strengthen requirements for Alabama high school diplomas, but also passed an emergency amendment to potentially allow hundreds of lower-scoring seniors to graduate this year.

The emergency rule amendment covers graduations during the next 35 days and allows students who haven’t passed all five sections of the state’s high school exit exam to graduate if they passed three, including English and math.

But local school systems will have to immediately adopt the changes to make sure those students can walk across the stage.

The board’s votes drew shouts and applause from the audience at a downtown Montgomery meeting where several people spoke in support of the change. Some were parents describing their children’s despair and disappointment after repeatedly failing parts of the test.

“There’s been a lot of tears, a lot of time spent. ... It’s so devastating to go all the way to the end of 12 years of school and not be allowed to walk,” said Ladon Findley, whose son Caleb has been trying to pass the language segment of the test and would not have been allowed to graduate.

Most Alabama students, 92 percent, already pass all five sections of the exam. Most of the remainder have disabilities, while about 3 percent only struggle in one area.

In the future, students will still be required to pass all five sections of the exam. If they fail a section, they would receive a “credit-based endorsement” diploma and have the option of completing work for a full diploma.

Policies, guidelines and sample schedules under the new graduation requirements will be developed by a committee. The changes will become mandatory for all school systems in the 2009-10 school year, but some could start voluntarily before then.

Under the new rules, all students will automatically be enrolled to get the state’s Advanced Diploma, but parents would have the choice of opting their children out to get the Basic Diploma.

That reverses the current practice where all students get the Basic Diploma unless they sign up for the advanced track.

The Advanced Diploma requires two years of foreign language and an extra year of college preparatory math. Almost all students would also need to take at least one online course.

With the Advanced Diploma becoming the new standard, there will no longer be a statewide diploma for children who want to go above that level.
Critics say the state is shortchanging those students, but Alabama Superintendent Joe Morton said local school systems can develop their own honors diplomas.
“There is no watering down in this,” he said. “I call it ’smartening up.“’

Thursday’s votes were victories for Morton, who had pushed for months to get new graduation requirements and met heavy opposition early on. Some questioned if stricter standards for students would improve Alabama’s dismal 65-percent graduation rate and there were concerns about the quick timeframe for the change.

But the resistance waned as Morton and his staff campaigned to correct misinformation about the plan and quell worries of local education officials.
Tom and Della King attended the meeting and couldn’t wait to tell the news to their son Judge, who could now graduate with his class after failing the exam’s social studies section three times.

“We’re very, very excited,” Della King said while standing beside her husband after the meeting. “We both teared up in there when they all voted for it.”
“Today’s a victory for every kid in Alabama,” Tom King said. “We’re good.”