Lawmakers and educators in Ohio are looking to make sure a high school diploma is worth the paper it’s printed on.

One in five seniors were not on track to graduate, so officials relaxed standards this year. Now they're set to vote Thursday to do the same for juniors and sophomores.

Even top students like Cassandra Aliff struggle with the current standards.

"My GPA is 3.91."

She's number 9 of 107 in her senior class at Chesapeake High School.

"I do pretty good in class, it's just the test doesn't work well for me," she said.

Those are the tests that determine if she can graduate. There are seven of them. It takes 18 points out of a possible 35, with required minimums in several areas.

She had to retake the government test once and geometry twice. Both classes she got A’s in and thought she had understood the material.

But vague questions, high stakes and the anxiety from the pressure, especially during the retakes, she blames for proving to be her undoing initially.

"It's nerve-racking because if I don’t get the right score on this, I have to wait another year to graduate and that's terrifying," Aliff said.

"Heck, I'm a good example,” said Chesapeake principal Chris Smith. “I got a 17 on my ACT."

He took it when he wasn’t feeling well and the morning after a football game. But it was all he needed to qualify for collegiate sports at Marshall, so he didn’t bother to take it again.

He said he’s proof that one test given on one day doesn't determine everything.

In addition to the end-of-course testing pathway, seniors in Ohio can also use good ACT or SAT scores or credentials in areas like IT or welding to get a diploma.

But because more than 1 in 5 current seniors weren't on track earlier, lawmakers gave extra pathways with a variety of requirements to choose from including job experience, a capstone project, community service or 93 percent attendance during the senior year. That last one is a standard which critics have pointed to, but which Smith defends.

"Attendance and showing up to work is actually a skill that people are seeking," he said.

Last year, under different rules, 100 percent of Chesapeake seniors got a diploma last year under different rules.

Smith said five to seven seniors this year wouldn't make it without the extra pathways, which is why he supports current efforts to help the junior and sophomore classes.

"We've been 100 and we want to keep that. It's made a difference. It will make a difference if they don't relax them like they did last year."

As Aliff reads "Macbeth," a Shakespearian tragedy about murder in her English class, it seems she plans to study forensic science at Eastern Kentucky University after graduating.

But she said with all the college prep courses she’s taken, she believes she’s ready for life after high school.

"Here, with these teachers, definitely. Yeah."

According to the latest data from the Ohio Department of Education, 19.9 percent of current seniors needed additional intervention to graduate as of the end of their junior year. That's 27,254 students statewide. The bulk of seniors, 62.1 percent, already met their graduation requirements by this summer. Another 13.5 percent are “highly likely” to meet graduation requirements. The remaining 4.5 percent are students without enough data. The total cohort for the class of 2019 is 136,746 students.

A new proposal for standards is expected to be released this spring, with no indication of how closely they will match current standards.

Principal Smith said it's frustrating because it feels like they change every couple years.

He said the current standards could be the long-term answer. But without the extra pathways, they're too narrow.

The bill to ease diploma standards is House Bill 491. The Senate passed it Thursday and sent its version back to the House, which is expected to take it up soon.