At the school board meeting  Feb. 17 the Ector County Independent School District (ECISD) school board passed a motion to make this change official.

“It raises the expectation,” ECISD Superintendent Tom Crowe said. “All of a sudden students realize that state testing is important, that if you want to walk across the stage and get your diploma, you’ve got to meet it all.”

Graduation requirements have always been and will remain the 26 high school credits along with the passing grade on the state test, also known as the STARR test.

“The districts I’ve been in have been highly successful,” Crowe said. “The students are required to meet all the state requirements ‘cause, number one, it honors those who do meet all graduation requirements.”

Before students were allowed to walk the stage at graduation even if they were not receiving a diploma at the other end.

“They’ve always had to have all their credits,” Crowe said. “The new part is they have to meet all state requirements too.”

These adjustments will provide a more clear understanding of a child’s graduating status.

“Sometimes people don’t understand that they see their child walking across the stage and in their mind they’re graduating, but they didn’t,” Crowe said. “So it takes away that false perception of someone graduating when they really didn’t.”