For the past few months there has been an unprecedented move taken on behalf of former high school students who failed their state’s exit exam. These students were caught in a situation where they completed all educational and attendance criteria but could not pass a state-mandated exit exam to get their high school diplomas. This caused thousands of students in many states economic hardship as well as difficulty in continuing to pursue higher education. Implementation of the testing caused controversy as many complained of the lack of fairness of the test.
As states now turn to Common Core standards, the requirement of exit testing has been dropped by all but 13 states. This has resulted in states now awarding retroactive high school diplomas changing the lives of thousands for the better. States with the highest number of retroactive diplomas issued include the following:
Georgia- 17,000+ granted in the past 9 months.
Texas- 4,000+ granted with more than 36,000 possibly eligible
South Carolina- 6,000+ granted
California- 35,000 are eligible for retroactive diploma
For many states the problem is notifying past students that they are eligible because there is a lack of funding. These states will have to track down past students to let them know of the change in their status. If your state has dropped high school graduation tests and you think you might be eligible for a retroactive diploma; you should contact your state’s Department of Education.
