A Texas state senate bill by Amarillo Sen. Kel Seliger is drawing a good deal of criticism, according to The Texas Tribune. Senate Bill 149 allows Texas high school seniors to graduate without passing all five state exams, and instead being cleared by a panel of teachers, counselors, and parents.
A survey of Texas school districts conducted by The Texas Association of Business found that 87 percent of students were able to graduate without passing all their tests. Bill Hammond, CEO of the association, says this means that “the high school diploma for those kids means little or nothing, and they will not be ready to succeed in life.”
The bill became law in May and took effect immediately. This meant that seniors in the class of 2015 could still graduate even if they failed their tests. The law overwhelmingly passed the state legislature. Seliger proposed the legislation in response to concern that the exams aren’t a good measure of students' academic achievement.
