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Required Assessments for Graduation Designations
According to Florida law, students must meet all academic requirements, which include passing the required statewide
assessments, in order to earn a standard high school diploma from a public school. Students who meet the academic
course requirements, but do not pass the required assessments, will receive a Certificate of Completion, which is not
equivalent to a standard high school diploma. Passing scores for the statewide assessments are determined by the State
Board of Education. The assessments students must pass in order to graduate with a standard high school diploma are
determined by their year of enrollment in grade 9. Students entering Grade 9 in 2022 or later will be graduating based on
the new BEST aligned assessments. The required cut scores for graduation will be determined by FLDOE in Fall of 2023.

Graduation Options

● Retaking the Statewide Assessments — Students can retake the Grade 10 ELA test or Algebra 1 EOC Assessment
each time the test is administered until achieving a passing score, and students can enroll beyond the twelfth-
grade year should they need additional instruction to pass an assessment. Students currently have up to seven
opportunities to pass the Grade 10 ELA test before their scheduled graduation. Students who do not pass the
Grade 10 ELA in the spring of their tenth-grade year may retest in fall, winter, and spring of their eleventh- and
twelfth-grade years. The number of opportunities to retake the Algebra 1 EOC Assessment will depend on the
grade students are in when they first take the test, since they typically take it at the conclusion of the course. The
Algebra 1 EOC Assessment is currently administered four times each year: in the fall, winter, spring and summer.
● Concordant and Comparative Scores Option — a student can also graduate by receiving a score concordant to
the passing score on Grade 10 ELA and/or Algebra 1 EOC Assessment on state-approved assessments. Students
entering high school prior to the 2020-21 school year may apply either set of concordant scores. Students entering
grade 9 during the 2020-21 school year can only use new concordant scores. Concordant requirements by year a
student entered grade 9 can be found here (pages 3 & 4).
● High School Diploma Scholar Designation—to qualify for a standard high school diploma Scholar designation,
students must earn passing scores on each of the statewide assessments displayed in Table 1, in addition to the
requirements for a standard high school diploma. Table 1 displays the Scholar Designation requirements.

Table 1: Scholar Designation Test Requirements.

● Waivers for Students with Disabilities — Students with disabilities who are working toward a standard high school
diploma are expected to participate in statewide, standardized assessments; however, legislation provides for a
waiver of statewide, standardized assessment results for graduation requirement purposes for students with
disabilities whose abilities cannot be accurately measured by the assessments. Pursuant to s. 1008.22(3)(c)2., F.S.,
“A student with a disability, as defined in s. 1007.02(2), for whom the Individual Education Plan (IEP) Team
determines that the statewide, standardized assessments under this section cannot accurately measure the
student’s abilities, taking into consideration all allowable accommodations, shall have assessment results waived
for the purpose of receiving a course grade and a standard high school diploma. Such waiver shall be designated

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