Graduation requirements and diploma options for students with disabilities who participate in the general assessment have been a topic of interest for many years. The recent push for all students, including those with disabilities, to leave school ready for college and career has heightened the importance of understanding what states are requiring of students with disabilities to earn a regular diploma.

NCEO recently published a new report on this topic, Graduation Policies for Students with Disabilities who Participate in States’ General Assessments. There is wide variation across states in their graduation policies for these students.

Key findings included:

• Only 14 states held the same graduation requirements for their students with disabilities and their peers. Nine of these states had only the same course requirements for graduation with a regular diploma and five of them had both course requirements and exit assessment requirements that were the same.
• When looking at course requirements only, 30 of the 51 states had requirements for their students with disabilities that were not the same as those for their peers.
• When looking at exit assessment requirements only, 19 of the 27 states held less rigorous requirements for their students with disabilities compared to their peers.

A previously published companion report on Graduation policies for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities Who Participate in States’ AA-AAS is also available.