Questions & Answers: North Carolina Exit Standards ______________________________________________________________________________________________ 1) What are the North Carolina high school exit standards?
According to State Board of Education (SBE) policy GCS-N-003, in order to receive a North
Carolina high school diploma, a student who enters grade 9 for the first time in 2009-10 or
beyond and who follows the Future-Ready Core as defined in the SBE policy GCS-N-004 (16
NCAC 6D .0503) must score at Level III or above on the End-of-Course Tests of Algebra I,
English I, Biology, Civics and Economics, and U.S. History. In order to receive a North
Carolina high school diploma, a student who enters grade 9 prior to 2009-10 and who is
following the career preparation, college technical preparation, or college/university
preparation course of student as defined in the SBE policy GCS-N-004 (16 NCAC 6D .0503)
must score at Level III or above on the End-of-Course Tests of Algebra I, English I, Biology,
Civics and Economics, and U.S. History.
2) Does a student have to pass both the course and the end-of-course test to meet
the exit standard?
No. The student must pass the end-of-course test to meet the exit standard. Course credit is
determined separately.
3) If a student does not score Achievement Level III or above on the End-ofCourse Tests of Algebra I, English I, Biology, Civics and Economics, and U.S.
History, can the student take the EOC test again?
Retest 1 (i.e., second test administration) must be administered to all students who score
Achievement Level II on any Regular administration (i.e., first administration within a testing
cycle) of the end-of-course test. LEAs must notify the parent or guardian of students who
scored Achievement Level I of a Retest 1 administration opportunity. If the parent or
guardian requests the administration of Retest 1, the LEA must administer Retest 1 to that
student.
Note: There is one exception. Students identified as LEP who are in their first year in U.S.
schools and who score below Level 4 Expanding on the ACCESS for ELLs© reading
proficiency subtest are exempt from Retest 1.
4) Does the State require that a student receive remediation or focused
intervention prior to the Retest 1 administration?
No. This is a local decision.
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5) If a student does not score Achievement Level III or above on the Regular
administration or Retest 1, can LEAs choose to administer the EOC test a
third time (i.e., Retest 2) to students?
No. Retest 2 is no longer necessary or funded by the State. Following Retest 1, school
principals may use the results from both the Regular administration and Retest 1 along with
other available information (e.g., formative or benchmark data, portfolios, review committee
recommendation) to make exit standard decisions.
6) Can an LEA choose to allow students who score Achievement Level II with 1
standard error of measurement (SEM) to meet the exit standard?
After Retest 1, LEAs may use end-of-course test scores with 1 SEM for determining local
“passing” requirements and for principals determining if a student met the exit standard.
Retest 1 must be administered to all students who score Achievement Level II on any Regular
administration of the end-of-course test. If a student scores Achievement Level II on Retest 1,
it is then a local decision whether or not to allow students who scored Achievement Level II
with 1 SEM on the Regular administration or Retest 1 to meet the exit standard. 7) If a student receives a NCDPI-approved medical exception to not participate in
the administration of an EOC test required for the North Carolina exit
standards, must the student take and pass the EOC test to meet State
graduation requirements?
Students with State-approved medical exceptions unable to participate in State-mandated
testing are still required to meet all state and local graduation requirements to receive a high
school diploma which includes the North Carolina exit standards. However, they are not
required to take and pass the end-of-course test(s) in order to meet the exit standards. The
school principal has authority to grade and classify all students. Therefore, the principal
makes the final decision regarding exit standards.
If the principal determines that the student has met the exit standard for the course based on
existing information (e.g., formative or benchmark data, portfolios, review committee
recommendation), NC WISE must be updated to indicate that the student has met the exit
standard by principal decision. This indication must be in NC WISE before a diploma can be
awarded to the student. If the principal needs additional information before determining that
the student has met the exit standard for the course, the principal may require the student to
take the end-of-course test outside the testing window when medically appropriate for the
student. The score will not be used for accountability. The LEA must approve the use of the
end-of-course test and must make arrangements for the administration and training.
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8) If a student transfers into an LEA from outside the state of North Carolina or
from a non-public school with course credits for Algebra I, Biology, English I,
Civics & Economics, and/or US History, how will exit standard requirements
be met?
(1) The school principal must determine if he/she agrees with awarding credit for the
course. (2) The school principal must also determine whether or not to award credit for the
exit standard. The school principal has three options: (a) The principal may determine that
the student has met the exit standard for the course and mark the student as having met the
standard in NCWISE. (b) The principal may require the student to take the end-of-course
test. This score would not be used in accountability. The LEA must approve the use of
the end-of-course test and must make arrangements for the administration and training. (c)
The principal may ask the student to take the course followed by its associated end-ofcourse test.
9) If a student transfers into an LEA from within the state of North Carolina with
course credits for Algebra I, Biology, English I, Civics & Economics, and/or US
History but with no associated EOC test score, how will exit standard
requirements be met?
The school principal must determine whether or not to award credit for the exit standard.
The school principal has three options: (a) The principal may determine that the student
has met the exit standard for the course and mark the student as having met the standard in
NCWISE. (b) The principal may require the student to take the end-of-course test. This
score would not be used in accountability. The LEA must approve the use of the end-ofcourse test and must make arrangements for the administration and training.
10) If a student transfers into an LEA from outside the state without course
credits, how will exit standard requirements be met?
The student must take the course for credit followed by its associated end-of-course test.
11) If a principal determines that a student has met the exit standard, how is it
denoted in NC WISE? In eSIS, there is a field called Exemption Reason. The code of “P” is entered into the field
for students who fail the EOC test, but the principal determines that the student met the
exit standard based on other evidence. Code “Q” can be used for students who transfer
from out of state or a non-public NC school with course credit that the principal
determines meets the exit standard.
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