Higher test scores needed to graduate will impact 37% of county seniors. See the new rules
Thousands of Palm Beach County students in line to take an alternative path to graduation by using their college entry exam scores are at risk of falling short as the state embraces repeatedly delayed, more challenging standards.
For years, Florida has allowed students who fail the state's high school exams in math and reading to earn a diploma using their results on other tests like the ACT or SAT. But in an effort to increase academic rigor, the state Department of Education raised the graduation requirements before the class of 2024 even entered high school.
For the last several years, legislators delayed the implementation of those new requirements in an effort not to kick students who were already down due to the pandemic. The state even waived some testing requirements for graduating classes in 2020 and 2021.
However, this year's seniors, including roughly 13,000 in Palm Beach County, will be held to the higher standard — particularly in reading.
"(The state) has been trying to do this for a number of years," said Adam Miller, a senior chancellor at the state Department of Education, speaking at a Feb. 21 meeting of the school district's academic advisory committee. "For last school year, at the end of the school year, they did relent and leave things mostly as they were, which was great, and we see that reflected in our graduation rates."
From 2023: Last-minute change in Florida graduation requirements helps 700 Palm Beach County seniors
Last year, district records show that 37% of students across Palm Beach County used the alternative test scores, often referred to as "concordant scores," to get their diplomas. But for some groups of students, that number was far higher:
71% of students learning English used concordant scores to graduate.
48% of Black students used concordant scores to graduate.
45% of students who qualify for free or reduced-priced lunches used the concordant score requirements to get a diploma.
The higher bar to reach a diploma doesn't necessarily mean all of those students won't get to graduate, but Palm Beach County's data shows the new requirements will disproportionately affect the ability to graduate for students of color.
What are new reading requirements in Florida for 2024 seniors?
A majority of graduates will get their diplomas because they've met Florida's requirements: They've kept a 2.0 unweighted cumulative grade-point average, completed course credit requirements and achieved passing scores on the 10th grade Florida Standards Assessment for English Language Arts and the Algebra 1 or Geometry End-of-Course Assessment.
If a student does not pass the state reading or math tests, they can earn a concordant, or comparative, score on the common college entrance exams and still earn their diploma.
On the reading side, students who don't pass the language arts exam will now need to score a 480 on the SAT's reading and writing section. Last year, the required score was 430. The standard remains the same as last year for the ACT English and reading sections: Students must score an 18.
This year's requirements remove the SAT's reading-only section and the ACT's reading-only section as potential concordant scores. But they also added a new test, the Classic Learning Test, as an option. The state requires a student to score a 36 or higher on that test.
The Classic Learning Test is an exam that was first launched in 2016 and is popular with home-schooled and privately schooled students as an alternative to the SAT or ACT. The test markets itself as a step toward "reviving great education" in classical studies and texts. Its board of academic advisers includes conservative activists and people affiliated with religious schools like Hillsdale College in Michigan, NPR reported.
Last fall, Florida's state university system approved using the Classic Learning Test score for undergraduate admissions, making Florida the first state in the country to do so.
What are Florida's new math requirements for 2024 seniors?
On the math side, graduation requirements remain the same as last year for the following exams:
PSAT Math section: Students must score 430 or above.
SAT Math section: Students must score 420 or above.
ACT Math section: Students must score 16 or above.
This year's requirements remove the option to use the Postsecondary Education Readiness Test, given to all high school sophomores, as a graduation alternative. Students caught in a lurch in 2023 took the test repeatedly in the final weeks of school to score the 114 required to graduate.
Finally, the quantitative reasoning section of the Classic Learning Test was added as a means to earn a concordant score this year. Students need to score 11 or higher to graduate.
Will there be any changes to graduation requirements in 2024?
School leaders confirmed this month that they don't expect any last-minute changes to the graduation requirements this year, but said they're confident in their test-prep programs for students who will use concordant scores to graduate.
"We're going to be under the new rules and expectations," Ed Tierney, the district's chief of schools, said at a March 6 school board meeting. "We've put a lot of time into graduation rates. ... High schools do a great job of preparing students for that. We push hard on the SAT and the ACT and refine our instruction on that."
Tierney also mentioned the school district has "found a path" to helping students prepare for the Classic Learning Test, specifically in the math section. He didn't provide any more details at the March 6 meeting.
Katherine Kokal is a journalist covering education at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at kkokal@pbpost.com. Help support our work, subscribe today!
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Palm Beach County high school graduation requirement, test scores 2024
