Ohio’s new high-school graduation requirements under fire

HAMILTON, Ohio (AP) — School administrators in southwest Ohio say the state’s new graduation requirements will hurt many high-school juniors’ chances of earning a diploma.

Hamilton City Schools Superintendent Tony Orr tells The Hamilton-Middletown Journal-News the new rules have juniors headed toward an academic “cliff.”

State education officials abandoned the previously required Ohio Graduation Tests in favor of new testing.

The new system involves seven tests – two English, two math, two social studies and one science – that are graded on a 1-to-5 point scale. Students must earn a total of 18 points to graduate.

Orr predicts as many as 40 percent of the state’s high-school seniors will not be eligible to graduate during the 2017-2018 school year because of the new standard.