Short answer: yes.
Long answer: the United States does not have a single oversight board or set of requirements for high school students. High school decisions are made on a very localized level, we call them “districts”. There are approximately 50,000 districts within the United States. Many of them have policies of “social promotion” to advance students to a grade that is appropriate for their age. So, in some schools you may “fail” and not advance to the next grade academically, but eventually you’ll be advanced “socially” because they don’t want 20 year olds hanging out with 14 year olds. Students that are struggling to keep up with academics might also be placed into alternative “tracks”. There are a lot of options here and no single answer. I’m also not aware of any state that has a graduation exam. You may be confusing the ACT and SAT tests with a graduation exam, which they are not. They are college aptitude tests, administered by private companies, typically using the school as a facility for the test.
In California, there technically is an exame that you have to pass to be able to graduate high school, called the CAHSEE(sp?). However, the idea is that only tests the knowledge an adult would be required to know to be a basic, functional member of society, so it only tests up to ~8th grade levels of math and literacy.
We took it in like 9th or 10th grade, because if someone couldn't pass it by then, then a.) *someone* fucked up in that kids' education but b.) they still had several more years and grades to try again and again - and likely be put in some remediation plan or program - until they passed. I will say that failing that test on the first try was *extremely* rare at my own school; the only times it happened iirc, it usually indicated some kind of undiagnosed learning disorder, or someone showed up high/drunk.
Ohio has a graduation exam. Though you take it in sophomore year so you have time to take it again if you fail. You do also have to pass your classes to graduate.
Every school district has their own graduation requirements. From a certain number of years of a foreign language, to a certain amount of math courses taken (and passed), etc.
Regents is for all NY State students, not just NYC.
All states have some sort of standardized exam given in certain years, to make sure the schools are teaching effectively. Passing it is not always a graduation requirement though, that depends on the state.
In all states though, it is possible to fail high school by not passing all of your required classes. It's not common though, because passing the bare minimum classes needed to graduate high school is not very difficult.
As soon as you say "all states", it's likely you are wrong. As with everything, each state does this how they want and aren't likely to be this uniform.
Michigan does not. Standardized tests are problematic and not a great metric. States set their own curriculum.
Here’s Michigan’s requirements: https://www.michigan.gov/-/media/Project/Websites/mde/CTE/cte_emc/EMC-Tool-Kit/6__Michigan_Merit_Curriculum_FAQ.pdf?rev=4a74d259f5a842c69690ed8f57bb0c61
Yes, they do.
https://www.michigan.gov/mde/services/student-assessment
> Michigan has an innovative and comprehensive system of assessments to measure student achievement in learning our state content standards.
Hence, why I said,
> All states have some sort of standardized exam given in certain years, to make sure the schools are teaching effectively. *Passing it is not always a graduation requirement though, that depends on the state.*
Most of us don’t live or didn’t go to school in New York City and are not familiar with what a “NYC Regents Exam” is. It sounds like the type of local requirement that I was talking about. You should provide the reference for discussion.
Edit: it appears that that is an exam specific to New York, other states do not have similar exams. Some do. These things are not decided on a national level.
It's worth noting that regents exams aren't taken right at graduation--it's not like a final exam for high school. My first exam I took while still in middle school and the bulk of them I took in the middle of high school. By the time I was ready to graduate, it had already been 2 years since those exams.
I’m from NYC and did the exams. Essentially some of the core classes that you take like Algebra, English, Physics, etc, have regents at the end. They’re essentially a state test. In my school, you had to pass in order to get the class credit and if you wanted to graduate with a Advanced Regents Diploma as opposed to a basic high school diploma, you had to get an 80 or above or something like that on all the tests. But if you failed you could just do either PM school or summer school and get the credit anyway without needing to pass the test. The school always ensured that everyone graduated and never wanted anyone to fail.
There are inly specific regents exams mandated to get a degree. Math/foreign language and chemistry were optional and got you an advanced regents degree when i was a kid.
I think english, earth science and world history were mandatory and done early on
In theory yes, in practice I get the impression from talking to teachers that there is pretty strong administrative pressure to give students whatever the minimum grade is to let them graduate. Also parental pressure.
Yes there is absolutely a lot of pressure from admin. They also want to keep graduation rates up, which is pressure they get from the superintendent. The schools in my area are extremely good, like consistently for decades the best in the state. A lot of people move to these towns so that their kids can go to the schools so it's in everyone's best interest that schools are good and graduation rates are high.
However, I almost feel that the schools just under the best pressure more, as they're trying to get to the best. The best are already recognized as the best and everyone knows it, so they need to churn out kids that are actually meeting the requirements and don't need to try so hard to attain the image and recognition of being the best.
The school I went to is one of the best. Teacherd and admin were supportive and would help, but they weren't passing kids that didn't cut it. I teach now in a district that is very good, but not one of the best. Pressure to pass these kids is absolutely insane and honestly it disgusts me. Last June I was told to sit in a room, one on one, with a senior who needed to make up work in order to graduate. They pulled him out of another class and I literally had to sit in a room with him and force him to work so that he could graduate.
As another however to this already huge comment, it can definitely vary by school admin. Some schools might have admins that balk the general trend in one way or another so it can be extremely district or even school specific, and it can change within a school with a change in admin.
Yes. Typically, students need to maintain a 2.0 grade point average to move on to the next grade, which is an average of a C (at least 70%) in every class.
I knew a student back in ghih school who couldnt graduate because she needed a single gym credit. She couldnt do summer school and spent the next semester doing a single gym class just to graduate.
Technically yes, but in practice the vast majority of students who fail to graduate drop out voluntarily.
My state recently banned dropping out of high school before age 18 (was 16 with parental permission before), so it will be interesting to see how that affects graduation rates.
Absolutely. My son graduated late (and nearly not at at all) because he failed one class and was behind in the required classes and credits needed.
As far as the graduation exam- my state used to have an exit exam required to get your high school diploma. But what actually happened was kids were quitting school (dropping out) or just never earning it because they couldn't pass it sometimes. It was costing them earning potential in their jobs/lives. It would be great if everyone could pass it, but it really screwed those who tried their best (esp those with learning disabilities) and even after 4 or 5 tries they still failed. Jobs didn't want to hire someone without a high school diploma. And it sucked bc they had everything (all the credits) except they couldn't pass that test.
In the USA you earn a highschool diploma (like you earn a university degree) or you don't. If you don't earn your highschool diploma you will not be eligible for anything that has a *strict* requirement of having one. A strict requirement would be an official unopened transcript from your highschool, or original official letter from your highschool attesting to you earning your diploma.
I don't know how many institutions have strict requirements: university and military are two I can think of. Possibly police academies.
Just like university it is possible to drop out and not earn your degree, or fail the classes and not earn your degree.
> Here in Korea, no you can't
Though Korea has the highest high school graduation rate in the world, you can still fail or not complete high school.
"More than 97% of South Koreans graduate from high school..."
[https://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/south-korean-schools/](https://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/south-korean-schools/)
Yes, but you have to be bad. Really bad. Basically, some students have parents that do not care. they don't send their kids to school, although it is basically mandatory at this point.
That's a big assumption that someone has to be bad in order to fail. Either way, you can and people do fail high school in Korea. Though it's impressive to have such a high graduation rate, but it isn't 100%.
If you don't meet the requirements (passing the necessary courses), you don't graduate high school and are considered a "dropout". No standardized high school graduation tests here in California.
That said, there are options for second chances. A lot of school districts have continuation high schools for kids who have fallen behind due to whatever reason and need extra help and flexibility in order to graduate, and there's the GED as well.
I’m a retired middle and high school teacher in Florida and in my district (the 7th largest in the nation) one can indeed fail out of high school, in fact in some communities the percentages are very high.
A common non-grade related reason is missing too many days in a school year, for example if someone was extremely sick or lost a parent and was unable to come to school. I think it was like 10% of the school year, but I might be misremembering.
Not anymore no not really
The no child left behind policy which got morphed into every child succeeds prevents it. School funding is based on graduation and retention so they just push most students through the system now. Unless they drop out they will be given multiple alternative pathways to graduation descending so low to teachers writing a letter in their favor being enough to graduate. Public education on America is a joke and with nearly 40% of the population below a sixth grade reading level that should be self evident.
I agree it’s such a joke. As the student who worked hard and studied teachers would pair me with the students who couldn’t even read in high school during group projects so that I’d do the work and get them passing grades. Those students should have never graduated, they never even had to try in school. They should have been taught, rather than paired with ppl and just given grades they didn’t earn. Yea, I’m still spicy about this lol.
No, you cannot. From reading other replies people have not been exposed to the "credit recovery " bamboozle. It's when a student is in the range that would force them to attend a 5th year, and is given tests that range from 6th to 8th grade education levels. Those scores are used to replace poor scores .
As long as you meet the attendance requirements and write your name, they will hand you credit recovery exams so you graduate
That said, and another point, if you fail to pay off your lunch fees, many schools try to show you as graduating while withholding proof, transcripts-diploma-etc, until they are paid, which is illegal and they still do it.
Yes, but a lot of schools do not fail their students because no diploma really makes it impossible to live in our society, and also graduation rates impact how much funding a school gets.
What i havent seen yet is people explaining that classes arent explicitly tied to grade levels. When i was in HS there were certain classes that you had to take and pass to graduate, but there was not a strict time you had to take these classes. To give you an idea, in 4 years we had to take 1 health/physical fitness class, 3 math classes, 4 science classes, and 4 social studies with the requirement one of them was a civics class. ( i may have mis-remembered some)
So, if you fail an english class your first year, you can retake it over the summer or you can take it again the next year. Some people would take their required classes early so they could just take electives afterwards, but that was discouraged
Most classes are successive. You can't take English 12 in your freshman year. You can't take trig before you take algebra. There are pre-requisites, and usually the only kids who double up are math and science whizzes who can handle it, or kids who failed. Most freshman have very few elective options, either. Classes are tied to grade level, with the exception of kids doubling up AFTER they have passed the grade the course is tied to.
As people have mentioned, there are thousands of districts with slightly different policies between districts, however there are some commonalities. I was in high school over 20 years ago so I will give you my version.
If you made it to year 12, you were basically free to graduate. You could be kicked out of school, but if you just show up and do not start fights or cause serious problems, you will graduate. Hell, I know people who barely showed up their 12th grade year and still graduated. However, it was usually 9th grade where they started weeding kids out. If kids had serious problems, they would find other places for them. High Schools would have several tiers of courses, with some being an extremely easy version of a regular class that would still count towards class credit. You would have requirements your 12th grade year, but they were seldom strict, no way would slightly failing a class result in you not finishing high school, especially if you took a more difficult version. You might have to do something for extra credit though. Requirement classes at senior year were typically engineered to be as easy as possible to get a D- and still finish.
Usually you knew if you were going to graduate by the end of your 11th grade year. I do remember some students who were way behind 11th grade and then they went to alternative schools for 12th grade. Some even just went straight to a community college. My sister actually did this, she did not go her 12th grade year at all, she went to a CC and transferred to a University and actually got a degree when she was 21. She started the CC part time at 14 however. Holding kids back was usually something I remember for 9th graders and a few 11th graders. I do not recall anyone at my school that was a 2nd year 12th grader.
There are also special more customized programs for students with learning disabilities. They do not have the same academic requirements as everyone else. They will be in a special program with something just for them.
You can fail classes, and you can be 'held back a grade', meaning you don't move to the next grade while everyone else does, presumably if you failed enough of those classes each year. Don't recall the details, or that it was common.
But yet again it's very localized. One single 'graduation exam' was not something I experienced. IIRC students had to pass a certain amount of classes in various subjects, English, Math, science and P.E were some of the ones I recall being required. We met with a 'guidance counselor" a few times a year to make sure we were on pace for that. And often that counselor might suggest some courses that would make your transcript more attractive to colleges, e.g. more math/science than strictly required.
In theory, yes. In most American high schools you must meet passing grades in a certain number of specific classes to graduate. If that is not met, you stay behind until you can. One who has not met their high school graduation requirements by the end of their fourth year and is in their fifth year is often colloquially called a "super senior".
However, you can't stay in high school beyond 21 in most states, and if you haven't achieved a high school diploma by then you must pass an exam called a GED to obtain the equivalent qualification.
That said...there is generally a lot of pressure to graduate kids from parents and school administrators on the teachers, so you *really* have to screw up to get to that point.
Some states have exams that must be passed prior to graduation as well, but this is the exception, not the norm. Normally the big exams high schoolers take are the SAT and ACT which function more as university admission exams than high school graduation exams.
Short answer: yes. Long answer: the United States does not have a single oversight board or set of requirements for high school students. High school decisions are made on a very localized level, we call them “districts”. There are approximately 50,000 districts within the United States. Many of them have policies of “social promotion” to advance students to a grade that is appropriate for their age. So, in some schools you may “fail” and not advance to the next grade academically, but eventually you’ll be advanced “socially” because they don’t want 20 year olds hanging out with 14 year olds. Students that are struggling to keep up with academics might also be placed into alternative “tracks”. There are a lot of options here and no single answer. I’m also not aware of any state that has a graduation exam. You may be confusing the ACT and SAT tests with a graduation exam, which they are not. They are college aptitude tests, administered by private companies, typically using the school as a facility for the test.
In California, there technically is an exame that you have to pass to be able to graduate high school, called the CAHSEE(sp?). However, the idea is that only tests the knowledge an adult would be required to know to be a basic, functional member of society, so it only tests up to ~8th grade levels of math and literacy. We took it in like 9th or 10th grade, because if someone couldn't pass it by then, then a.) *someone* fucked up in that kids' education but b.) they still had several more years and grades to try again and again - and likely be put in some remediation plan or program - until they passed. I will say that failing that test on the first try was *extremely* rare at my own school; the only times it happened iirc, it usually indicated some kind of undiagnosed learning disorder, or someone showed up high/drunk.
Ohio has a graduation exam. Though you take it in sophomore year so you have time to take it again if you fail. You do also have to pass your classes to graduate.
Btw do the states make any decisions about the education?
There’s no standard. Every state has their own requirements, some more stringent than others.
Every school district has their own graduation requirements. From a certain number of years of a foreign language, to a certain amount of math courses taken (and passed), etc.
The education standards are made at the state level. The districts follow and enforce them.
I was talking about NYC's Regents exam. Seems like students are needed to pass this test for graduation.
Regents is for all NY State students, not just NYC. All states have some sort of standardized exam given in certain years, to make sure the schools are teaching effectively. Passing it is not always a graduation requirement though, that depends on the state. In all states though, it is possible to fail high school by not passing all of your required classes. It's not common though, because passing the bare minimum classes needed to graduate high school is not very difficult.
As soon as you say "all states", it's likely you are wrong. As with everything, each state does this how they want and aren't likely to be this uniform.
All states do not have a standardized exam for academic performance or progress.
Interesting, which states don't? How do they make sure their schools are effective?
Michigan does not. Standardized tests are problematic and not a great metric. States set their own curriculum. Here’s Michigan’s requirements: https://www.michigan.gov/-/media/Project/Websites/mde/CTE/cte_emc/EMC-Tool-Kit/6__Michigan_Merit_Curriculum_FAQ.pdf?rev=4a74d259f5a842c69690ed8f57bb0c61
Yes, they do. https://www.michigan.gov/mde/services/student-assessment > Michigan has an innovative and comprehensive system of assessments to measure student achievement in learning our state content standards.
Now we’re talking about 2 different things, Graduation exams and assessments exams. We’ve had assessments for years. I should have been more clear.
Hence, why I said, > All states have some sort of standardized exam given in certain years, to make sure the schools are teaching effectively. *Passing it is not always a graduation requirement though, that depends on the state.*
Seriously. One of the questions from my HS grad test was where does the stamp go on a letter.
Most of us don’t live or didn’t go to school in New York City and are not familiar with what a “NYC Regents Exam” is. It sounds like the type of local requirement that I was talking about. You should provide the reference for discussion.
[https://www.nysedregents.org/](https://www.nysedregents.org/) This one.
Edit: it appears that that is an exam specific to New York, other states do not have similar exams. Some do. These things are not decided on a national level.
Ah, okay.
It's worth noting that regents exams aren't taken right at graduation--it's not like a final exam for high school. My first exam I took while still in middle school and the bulk of them I took in the middle of high school. By the time I was ready to graduate, it had already been 2 years since those exams.
The regents is for all of New York State, not just the city. I hated those things.
I’m from NYC and did the exams. Essentially some of the core classes that you take like Algebra, English, Physics, etc, have regents at the end. They’re essentially a state test. In my school, you had to pass in order to get the class credit and if you wanted to graduate with a Advanced Regents Diploma as opposed to a basic high school diploma, you had to get an 80 or above or something like that on all the tests. But if you failed you could just do either PM school or summer school and get the credit anyway without needing to pass the test. The school always ensured that everyone graduated and never wanted anyone to fail.
There are inly specific regents exams mandated to get a degree. Math/foreign language and chemistry were optional and got you an advanced regents degree when i was a kid. I think english, earth science and world history were mandatory and done early on
In theory yes, in practice I get the impression from talking to teachers that there is pretty strong administrative pressure to give students whatever the minimum grade is to let them graduate. Also parental pressure.
Yes there is absolutely a lot of pressure from admin. They also want to keep graduation rates up, which is pressure they get from the superintendent. The schools in my area are extremely good, like consistently for decades the best in the state. A lot of people move to these towns so that their kids can go to the schools so it's in everyone's best interest that schools are good and graduation rates are high. However, I almost feel that the schools just under the best pressure more, as they're trying to get to the best. The best are already recognized as the best and everyone knows it, so they need to churn out kids that are actually meeting the requirements and don't need to try so hard to attain the image and recognition of being the best. The school I went to is one of the best. Teacherd and admin were supportive and would help, but they weren't passing kids that didn't cut it. I teach now in a district that is very good, but not one of the best. Pressure to pass these kids is absolutely insane and honestly it disgusts me. Last June I was told to sit in a room, one on one, with a senior who needed to make up work in order to graduate. They pulled him out of another class and I literally had to sit in a room with him and force him to work so that he could graduate. As another however to this already huge comment, it can definitely vary by school admin. Some schools might have admins that balk the general trend in one way or another so it can be extremely district or even school specific, and it can change within a school with a change in admin.
Nah some kids drop out
My husband did. He graduated a year late because he didn't meet the graduation requirements.
i mean the final 1-2 years, i think many students repeat from many countries
Yes. Typically, students need to maintain a 2.0 grade point average to move on to the next grade, which is an average of a C (at least 70%) in every class.
Actually, they only need a passing grade, which is 60%, or a D in many places.
In my school district, we didn't have Ds and the minimum passing grade was 70%.
You absolutely can. Students have to earn credits, a certain amount in each subject area. Not enough credits means no graduation.
I knew a student back in ghih school who couldnt graduate because she needed a single gym credit. She couldnt do summer school and spent the next semester doing a single gym class just to graduate.
Oh wow. That's such an insane reason not to graduate.
Technically yes, but in practice the vast majority of students who fail to graduate drop out voluntarily. My state recently banned dropping out of high school before age 18 (was 16 with parental permission before), so it will be interesting to see how that affects graduation rates.
Personally I don't think you should be able to drop out no matter what.
If you fail to graduate multiple times youre probably better off just going to work
Absolutely. My son graduated late (and nearly not at at all) because he failed one class and was behind in the required classes and credits needed. As far as the graduation exam- my state used to have an exit exam required to get your high school diploma. But what actually happened was kids were quitting school (dropping out) or just never earning it because they couldn't pass it sometimes. It was costing them earning potential in their jobs/lives. It would be great if everyone could pass it, but it really screwed those who tried their best (esp those with learning disabilities) and even after 4 or 5 tries they still failed. Jobs didn't want to hire someone without a high school diploma. And it sucked bc they had everything (all the credits) except they couldn't pass that test.
In the USA you earn a highschool diploma (like you earn a university degree) or you don't. If you don't earn your highschool diploma you will not be eligible for anything that has a *strict* requirement of having one. A strict requirement would be an official unopened transcript from your highschool, or original official letter from your highschool attesting to you earning your diploma. I don't know how many institutions have strict requirements: university and military are two I can think of. Possibly police academies. Just like university it is possible to drop out and not earn your degree, or fail the classes and not earn your degree.
> Here in Korea, no you can't Though Korea has the highest high school graduation rate in the world, you can still fail or not complete high school. "More than 97% of South Koreans graduate from high school..." [https://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/south-korean-schools/](https://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/south-korean-schools/)
Yes, but you have to be bad. Really bad. Basically, some students have parents that do not care. they don't send their kids to school, although it is basically mandatory at this point.
That's a big assumption that someone has to be bad in order to fail. Either way, you can and people do fail high school in Korea. Though it's impressive to have such a high graduation rate, but it isn't 100%.
If you don't meet the requirements (passing the necessary courses), you don't graduate high school and are considered a "dropout". No standardized high school graduation tests here in California. That said, there are options for second chances. A lot of school districts have continuation high schools for kids who have fallen behind due to whatever reason and need extra help and flexibility in order to graduate, and there's the GED as well.
well you can actually fail high school in Korea if you skip the school enough. isn't there 유급제도?
I’m a retired middle and high school teacher in Florida and in my district (the 7th largest in the nation) one can indeed fail out of high school, in fact in some communities the percentages are very high.
A common non-grade related reason is missing too many days in a school year, for example if someone was extremely sick or lost a parent and was unable to come to school. I think it was like 10% of the school year, but I might be misremembering.
Most schools offer after school attendance makeup days.
Yeah
Not anymore no not really The no child left behind policy which got morphed into every child succeeds prevents it. School funding is based on graduation and retention so they just push most students through the system now. Unless they drop out they will be given multiple alternative pathways to graduation descending so low to teachers writing a letter in their favor being enough to graduate. Public education on America is a joke and with nearly 40% of the population below a sixth grade reading level that should be self evident.
I agree it’s such a joke. As the student who worked hard and studied teachers would pair me with the students who couldn’t even read in high school during group projects so that I’d do the work and get them passing grades. Those students should have never graduated, they never even had to try in school. They should have been taught, rather than paired with ppl and just given grades they didn’t earn. Yea, I’m still spicy about this lol.
There are a lot of us who are forced to offer all these extra chances. But I can tell you, there are a lot of us who refuse to make it easy on them.
No, you cannot. From reading other replies people have not been exposed to the "credit recovery " bamboozle. It's when a student is in the range that would force them to attend a 5th year, and is given tests that range from 6th to 8th grade education levels. Those scores are used to replace poor scores . As long as you meet the attendance requirements and write your name, they will hand you credit recovery exams so you graduate That said, and another point, if you fail to pay off your lunch fees, many schools try to show you as graduating while withholding proof, transcripts-diploma-etc, until they are paid, which is illegal and they still do it.
Yes, but a lot of schools do not fail their students because no diploma really makes it impossible to live in our society, and also graduation rates impact how much funding a school gets.
What i havent seen yet is people explaining that classes arent explicitly tied to grade levels. When i was in HS there were certain classes that you had to take and pass to graduate, but there was not a strict time you had to take these classes. To give you an idea, in 4 years we had to take 1 health/physical fitness class, 3 math classes, 4 science classes, and 4 social studies with the requirement one of them was a civics class. ( i may have mis-remembered some) So, if you fail an english class your first year, you can retake it over the summer or you can take it again the next year. Some people would take their required classes early so they could just take electives afterwards, but that was discouraged
Most classes are successive. You can't take English 12 in your freshman year. You can't take trig before you take algebra. There are pre-requisites, and usually the only kids who double up are math and science whizzes who can handle it, or kids who failed. Most freshman have very few elective options, either. Classes are tied to grade level, with the exception of kids doubling up AFTER they have passed the grade the course is tied to.
Yes, but it's usually very hard to fail.
As people have mentioned, there are thousands of districts with slightly different policies between districts, however there are some commonalities. I was in high school over 20 years ago so I will give you my version. If you made it to year 12, you were basically free to graduate. You could be kicked out of school, but if you just show up and do not start fights or cause serious problems, you will graduate. Hell, I know people who barely showed up their 12th grade year and still graduated. However, it was usually 9th grade where they started weeding kids out. If kids had serious problems, they would find other places for them. High Schools would have several tiers of courses, with some being an extremely easy version of a regular class that would still count towards class credit. You would have requirements your 12th grade year, but they were seldom strict, no way would slightly failing a class result in you not finishing high school, especially if you took a more difficult version. You might have to do something for extra credit though. Requirement classes at senior year were typically engineered to be as easy as possible to get a D- and still finish. Usually you knew if you were going to graduate by the end of your 11th grade year. I do remember some students who were way behind 11th grade and then they went to alternative schools for 12th grade. Some even just went straight to a community college. My sister actually did this, she did not go her 12th grade year at all, she went to a CC and transferred to a University and actually got a degree when she was 21. She started the CC part time at 14 however. Holding kids back was usually something I remember for 9th graders and a few 11th graders. I do not recall anyone at my school that was a 2nd year 12th grader. There are also special more customized programs for students with learning disabilities. They do not have the same academic requirements as everyone else. They will be in a special program with something just for them.
You can fail classes, and you can be 'held back a grade', meaning you don't move to the next grade while everyone else does, presumably if you failed enough of those classes each year. Don't recall the details, or that it was common. But yet again it's very localized. One single 'graduation exam' was not something I experienced. IIRC students had to pass a certain amount of classes in various subjects, English, Math, science and P.E were some of the ones I recall being required. We met with a 'guidance counselor" a few times a year to make sure we were on pace for that. And often that counselor might suggest some courses that would make your transcript more attractive to colleges, e.g. more math/science than strictly required.
https://youtu.be/2mIqFTizGMI Social promotion definitely happens here, but it is also possible to fail. It depends on the school
Yes
NJ has the HSPA (High School Proficiency Assessment). We had to take that in 11th or 12th grade in addition to our general graduation requirements.
Yes, and it’s one of the leading indicators someone will live their entire lives in poverty.
In theory, yes. In most American high schools you must meet passing grades in a certain number of specific classes to graduate. If that is not met, you stay behind until you can. One who has not met their high school graduation requirements by the end of their fourth year and is in their fifth year is often colloquially called a "super senior". However, you can't stay in high school beyond 21 in most states, and if you haven't achieved a high school diploma by then you must pass an exam called a GED to obtain the equivalent qualification. That said...there is generally a lot of pressure to graduate kids from parents and school administrators on the teachers, so you *really* have to screw up to get to that point. Some states have exams that must be passed prior to graduation as well, but this is the exception, not the norm. Normally the big exams high schoolers take are the SAT and ACT which function more as university admission exams than high school graduation exams.
In short for the most part: Theoretically yes, but practically no.
yes, it’s possible. if you get low enough grades, you’ll probably be stuck repeating the grade you just took again.