High school students will have the ability to earn a diploma in Ohio based on course grades rather than final exams, under a bill signed into law by Gov. Mike DeWine over the weekend.
The new law will ease guidelines for high school graduation in response to the challenges students and schools have faced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of basing grades on final exams, a student's work during the span of each course can determine if they can graduate.
Republicans and Democrats originally planned to call on the U.S. Department of Education to cancel federal standardized tests. But the Biden Administration said those tests must happen.
The law takes effect immediately so the state can seek a waiver of federal accountability measures based on the results of those tests.
