Starting with the class of 2021, all New Jersey students will have to pass the PARCC tests to graduate from high school, under regulations adopted by the state Board of Education Wednesday morning.

The approval comes despite more than two years of vocal opposition to the tests from parents and teachers and in spite of the fact that fewer than half of the students who have taken the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers tests have achieved a passing score. Both the Asbury Park Press and NJ Advance Media reported the vote to approve the requirement.

Students entering eighth grade this school year would be required to eventually pass both the Algebra I and 10th-grade English tests from the PARCC. The NJ.com report said the requirement makes New Jersey the only state in the country to require a passing score on the tests. The only option for New Jersey students who are unable to pass the exams will be to seek portfolio approval from the state, APP.com reported.

There are just eight states remaining as full participants in the consortium that at one point had 24 states plus the District of Columbia; none of New Jersey's neighbors participate in PARCC. Among other states still administering the PARCC, none are using it as the sole litmus test for graduation readiness.



In Illinois, state educators have opted to replace the PARCC exams with the SAT and will provide it to all public high school juniors to reduce testing "redundancy and maximize the value of test-taking time," the state said. Neither test is used as a graduation requirement. Colorado's graduation requirements for the Class of 2021 offer a menu of test options; PARCC is not mentioned by name among them. Maryland offers options for assessment scores, including the SAT and ACT tests, to meet graduation requirements. Massachusetts,which administers the PARCC, requires passing scores on its own state assessment tests but still offers options for proving graduation readiness.

In New Mexico, students have to have taken the PARCC twice but the state offers a menu of options to meeting assessment graduation requirements, while in Rhode Island, graduation requirements include testing but do not mention PARCC.

Some states have dropped standardized testing altogether as a graduation requirement. California recently rescinded its requirement for high school students to pass a standardized test after more than a decade of court battles and debate, according to the San Jose Mercury News. Pennsylvania shelved any decision on utilizing tests as graduation requirements until 2019.