Elimination of Grad Test a Good Thing, Says Fr. Co. School Superintendent

Franklin County School Superintendent Dr. Ruth O’Dell is hailing the Georgia General Assembly for its passage of a new law that eliminates the Georgia High School Graduation Test.

Governor Nathan Deal signed the bill into law on Monday and it is now law.

O’Dell said with the changes in the assessment system, the graduation test is really no longer needed.

“We’re moving to a whole new type of assessment program and a whole new way to determine college and career readiness and the Graduation Test just doesn’t fit that at all,” she said Wednesday. “It’s ridiculous that one test would determine that much.”

The law retroactively eliminates the Georgia High School Graduation Test as a requirement for students who took the test between 1994 (when the test was established) and the present.

And it applies to any student – currently or previously enrolled – who has met all graduation requirements except passing any of the graduation tests, including the Georgia High School Graduation Test, Georgia High School Writing Test, and the Basic Skills Test.

The new law also extends back to the first administration of the Basic Skills Test in 1981.

In 2011, the State School Board voted to eliminate the test as a requirement for graduation, but that elimination did not extend to students who had already taken the test.

O’Dell said under the new assessment system, high school students are now evaluated in each subject.

“Now you just really pass classes with the exam counting heavily, but it’s not everything,” she said. “And you have an exam for every one of the content areas that count towards graduation as far as your knowledge level.”

Now if you are a former high school student who did not pass the graduation test under the old system, contact the school district/school where you last attended high school in Georgia.   Then, submit a petition to the local school system (available from school districts) to determine eligibility.