Passing scores were set yesterday for a statewide high school English test that will soon become a graduation requirement and could prevent large numbers of students from obtaining a diploma.
If the test given to 10th-graders last year counted today, 57.3 percent of students would pass.
State education officials expect the passing rate to rise by as much as 30 percent when students know that how they do will determine whether they graduate.
The test will be given to ninth-, 10th- and 11th-graders, depending on when they are taught the material covered in the test.
More advanced students will take the test at a younger age.
Maryland has recently reduced from six to four the number of high school tests students will have to take. Previously, the state had given two English tests and a geometry and algebra test. The geometry test was eliminated and the two English tests combined.
