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District officials say fewer seniors are missing testing requirements as retakes, CTE options and targeted interventions continue
Summary
Superintendent staff and principals said the share of seniors missing ELA or EOC requirements fell this year, outlined that the state removed the certificate-of-completion option (effective July 1), and described CTE/concordant testing, intensified test-prep, and attendance and credit-recovery strategies to reduce diploma gaps.
Teresa Dennis, the district’s graduation pathways lead, told the school board the district has updated policies and family outreach after state changes that eliminated the certificate-of-completion option, meaning students must meet all diploma course, GPA and state-testing (or approved concordant) requirements to receive a high-school diploma.
Dennis said the district is focusing on ELA and the Algebra I EOC retakes as the principal impediments to diplomas. She told the board the class of 2026 began the year with roughly 22% of seniors missing at least one of those required tests and that figure had declined to about 14.6% by December; last year’s comparable cohort moved from about 26% down to 18% over the same interval. Dennis cautioned the numbers exclude students with IEP test waivers and that ongoing retake uploads could further lower the counts when the district updates its February report.
On Career and Technical Education pathways, Dennis said the district classifies the CTE option under the standard diploma (an 18‑credit pathway) and that students on a CTE pathway still must complete core academic courses, meet GPA requirements and satisfy state-test or approved concordant options (for example, CLT concordant scores). “It is classified as a standard high-school diploma,” she said.
Principals described school-level interventions. A principal representing Rickards explained testing costs for out-of-window options (ACT/CLT/SAT school days) can strain budgets — citing an example bill of about $5,000 at one school — and said Saturday test‑prep, targeted remediation and small-cohort strategies helped reduce the number of students still needing scores. The Leon principal described a new graduation-team committee and a practice of assigning administrators to a dozen to 15 at-risk students to monitor attendance, progress and remediation; the Leon Foundation funded roughly $10,000 for Saturday test-prep boot camps at that school.
Superintendent comments stressed the district’s progress compared with last year and emphasized that removing the certificate-of-completion increases the urgency of outreach and testing opportunities. He said the board and staff would continue providing data-driven updates and that the next comprehensive progress report will arrive in February.
The board did not take a formal vote on policy changes in this session; next steps include continued testing windows and a February data update for the board.
