Published On: February 1st, 2016|

NPR – Anya Kamenetz

“About three months ago, Bill Nelson got an unusual phone call. Nelson oversees data and assessment for the Agua Fria Union High School District in southwest Phoenix, Ariz. The call was from a former student, who left the district back in 2011. He was “not quite a graduate,” Nelson recalls. At the time, the young man had failed part of Arizona’s high school exit exam, called the AIMS. But in 2015, Arizona rescinded the AIMS requirement, and made that retroactive. So this former student was in luck. After Nelson looked up his records, he was able to issue a new transcript and diploma, making the young man eligible for a steady, relatively well-paying job as a miner in Colorado. “He was really very happy,” Nelson says. Which raises a question NPR Ed has been exploring for some time: What does it mean to graduate from high school?.”(more)