# Which States Still Require an Exit Exam to Graduate High School (2026) — And What "Repealed" Actually Means > Six states still make a diploma depend on passing an exam: Texas, Florida, Louisiana, Ohio, New Jersey and Virginia. Massachusetts ended its requirement by ballot in 2024 and New York ends its in 2027-2028 — but in both, students still sit the tests. What each state requires, read from the state itself. **Source:** https://www.texascbe.com/blog/state-high-school-exit-exams-2026 **Published:** 2026-08-09 Texas CBE™ — independently authored practice exams for Texas Credit by Examination, AP, SAT/PSAT and AMC. Not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by the Texas Education Agency, any school district, the College Board, or the Mathematical Association of America. --- Twenty-seven states once required a student to pass an exam before they could be handed a diploma. **6 still do.** Two have just stopped, and the way they stopped is the single most misunderstood thing in this subject — because in both, students still sit the test. This page is a reference, not an argument. Every line below was read from the state that sets the rule — a department of education, a state board, or the regulation itself — and the source is named against each one. Where we have not read it at source, the state is not here. ## First, two different things that keep getting mixed up | | Exit exam | Credit by exam | | --- | --- | --- | | **What it does** | A **gate**. Fail it and there is no diploma. | An **accelerator**. Pass it and you skip the course. | | **Who it affects** | A student who is stuck | A student who wants to move faster | | **How many states** | 6, and falling | Nearly all of them, under a dozen different names | They are both “a test for credit”, which is why they blur together. They are opposites. The rest of this page is about the first one; Texas, which has both, is at the foot. ## The 6 states that still require it | State | What must be passed | If a student does not | | --- | --- | --- | | **Texas** Class of 2026 | Five STAAR end-of-course assessments: Algebra I, English I, English II, Biology and U.S. History. TEA: "Students must pass five end-of-course assessments to meet the testing requirements for graduation." | An individual graduation committee may award a diploma to a student who has failed no more than two of the five. Made permanent by HB 1603 (2021). | | **Florida** Class of 2026 | The B.E.S.T. Algebra 1 EOC assessment and the grade 10 FAST ELA assessment, at Level 3 or above. | Concordant scores on the SAT or ACT for the ELA requirement, and comparative scores for the Algebra 1 requirement. | | **Louisiana** Class of 2026 | One assessment in each of three subject pairs, under Bulletin 741: English I or English II; Algebra I or Geometry; and Biology or Civics. | The third pair changed for students entering high school in 2024-2025 and after: it was Biology or U.S. History for earlier cohorts. | | **Ohio** Class of 2026 | A competency score of 684 on both the English language arts II and Algebra I (or Integrated Math I) end-of-course tests. | After remediation and a retake, four other routes: College Credit Plus, ACT or SAT, career experience and technical skill, or military enlistment. | | **New Jersey** Class of 2026 | The New Jersey Graduation Proficiency Assessment, taken in grade 11, at 725 or above in both ELA and mathematics. Cut scores approved by the State Board on 3 May 2023. | Substitute competency tests (for example ACT Math 17, SAT Math 440, PSAT10 Math 420, Accuplacer Elementary Algebra 49), or a portfolio appeal in grade 12. | | **Virginia** Entered grade 9 in 2018-2019 or later | Five verified units of credit for a Standard Diploma — two in English, one in mathematics, one in laboratory science and one in history and social science — alongside 22 standard units. | A verified credit is earned by passing the course and its SOL end-of-course test, or a substitute assessment approved by the Board of Education. | ### One footnote worth having **Virginia.** The rule moved: 8VAC20-131-51 was repealed on 25 September 2024 and the requirement now sits at 8VAC20-132-51. The requirement carried over; only the citation changed. ## The two that stopped — and what that did not mean ### Massachusetts — Class of 2025 onward Repealed by ballot: Question 2 passed on 5 November 2024 with 58.9% in favour, effective 5 December 2024, first applying to the class of 2025. **What replaces it:** A district certifies that the student has completed coursework showing mastery of the state standards in the areas the MCAS high school tests measured. ### New York — Requirement ends in 2027-2028 The Board of Regents set the timetable; the framework was approved on 14 July 2025. **What replaces it:** A new framework, the "portrait of a graduate", replaces it and is fully phased in by 2029-2030. Students entering grade 9 in autumn 2027 are the first cohort under the new credit rules. **The part almost everyone gets wrong:** in both states students **still take the tests**. Massachusetts is explicit — “Participation in the MCAS is required by federal and state law and the ballot question did not change this requirement.” New York is the same: under federal rules students sit the exams, they simply no longer need a passing score. What was repealed is the *gate*, not the *test*. ## What this means if you are choosing where to look Three practical readings of the table above. - **The requirement is not one thing.** Ohio wants a number (684). New Jersey wants a number (725) on one assessment taken in a single grade. Virginia wants five verified credits spread across four subjects. Louisiana lets a student choose one test from each of three pairs. Comparing them as “exit exams” hides how differently they behave. - **Almost every state has a second route.** SAT and ACT substitutes, portfolio appeals, committee review, career and military pathways. A student who has failed a test has usually not run out of options — but the routes are specific and they have deadlines. - **The cohort matters more than the year.** Several of these rules key off the year a student entered grade 9, not the year they graduate. Louisiana's third subject pair and Virginia's credit counts both work this way. ## Texas is the state with both Texas keeps its exit exam while others drop theirs — five STAAR end-of-course assessments, with an individual graduation committee for a student who has missed no more than two of them. It also runs the other kind of exam entirely: **Credit by Examination**, which is how a Texas student earns credit for a course *without taking it*. Two separate systems, both called “testing”, pulling in opposite directions: - **STAAR EOC** — a gate. Required for the diploma. 80% is not the bar here; passing standards are set per assessment. - **Credit by Examination** — an accelerator. Optional. **80% without prior instruction** (Texas Education Code §28.023), **70% with prior instruction** (19 TAC §74.24). A family that confuses the two ends up preparing for the wrong test. If you are in Texas and the question is “can my child skip a course”, that is Credit by Examination, and the dates are set by your district rather than the state. ## Related guides - [Texas CBE district portal — testing windows and deadlines by district](https://www.texascbe.com/districts-news) - [Complete guide to Texas Credit by Exam](https://www.texascbe.com/blog/complete-guide-texas-cbe) - [Texas CBE passing scores and retake rules](https://www.texascbe.com/blog/texas-cbe-passing-scores-and-retake-rules-2026) - [Testing out of Algebra 1, state by state](https://www.texascbe.com/blog/test-out-algebra-1-any-state) ## How this page is maintained The table is held as data and this page is generated from it, so a change to one state does not mean rewriting the article — and so we can tell, later, exactly which line moved. Each state carries the date we last read it at source. Fifteen further states are commonly listed as having dropped a graduation exam at some point. We have not confirmed the year and mechanism for each of them at source, so they are not named here. We would rather publish a short list we can stand behind. ## Sources - **Texas** — [Texas Education Agency — High School Graduation Requirements](https://tea.texas.gov/student-readiness-and-high-school/high-school-graduation-requirements). Read 9 August 2026. - **Florida** — [Florida Department of Education — Graduation Requirements for Statewide Assessments](https://www.fldoe.org/accountability/assessments/k-12-student-assessment/graduation-requirements/). Read 29 June 2026. - **Louisiana** — [Louisiana Department of Education — high school assessment requirements (Bulletin 741)](https://doe.louisiana.gov/). Read 9 August 2026. - **Ohio** — [Ohio Department of Education and Workforce — Demonstrating Competency](https://education.ohio.gov/topics/ohio-s-graduation-requirements/ohio%E2%80%99s-graduation-requirements/demonstrating-competency). Read 9 August 2026. - **New Jersey** — [New Jersey Department of Education — Class of 2026 Graduation Assessment Requirements](https://www.nj.gov/education/assessment/requirements/2026.shtml). Read 9 August 2026. - **Virginia** — [Virginia Administrative Code 8VAC20-132-51](https://law.lis.virginia.gov/admincode/title8/agency20/chapter132/section51/). Read 9 August 2026. - **Massachusetts** — [Massachusetts DESE — Update on Student Competency Determinations](https://www.doe.mass.edu/commissioner/spec-advisories/2024-1211student-cd-update.html). Read 9 August 2026. - **New York** — [New York State Board of Regents — graduation measures framework (approved 14 July 2025)](https://www.nysed.gov/). Read 9 August 2026. Texas CBE™ is an independent preparation service and is not affiliated with any state education agency or school district. Requirements change; confirm with your state or district before relying on a date or a score.