State Board Approves 2-Year Delay in Using the New Student Assessment as Graduation Requirement

According to a press release of the Maryland Association of Boards of Education (MABE), the Maryland State Board of Education approved a plan proposed by State Superintendent Lillian Lowery to ensure  the new Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) exams in English 10 and Algebra I will not become a graduation requirement until the 2016-17 school year.

According to MABE, the key elements of the State Board’s plan provide:

  • Students who take the Algebra I and English 10 course aligned to PARCC in 2014-15 and 2015-16 will not be required to pass the exam in order to graduate. These students must still pass the course as part of their graduation requirements.
  • As in the past, all students still must pass the government and biology High School Assessments – or successfully complete the Bridge Plan project-based assessment in those subjects – in order to graduate.

For more information, contact John Woolums, MABE’s Director of Governmental Relations, jwoolums@mabe.org, 410.841.5414.