Living proof of the failure of Utah's education system and their failure to educate the children. Now they are trying to cover up that failure and not address the issue of uneducated children coming out of the Utah system. Take computers out of the class rooms and give them back the books so they can learn to read and get a decent education. Put the education system back on to a single language (english) of learning and teaching that teachers can cope with. Stop segregating the children in schools, English speaking and Spanish speaking clasess are illegal and not condusive to a fair education. And who knows what is being taught to the illegals? Are they being taught they have a right to be here or they have rights as foreign nationals. Utah has become and internatiional education system seperating illegals and americans in our schools. Children entering the college level more often than not must retake high school and elementary school classes to get in to the college level of learning.

So, we have lawmakers who think that public school students who attend class regularly, complete their work, do their best despite learning disabilities, get additional tutoring on their own time, and repeatedly fail a UBSCT test that isn't appropriate for them in the first place, should get only a certificate, not a diploma. This in the name of accountability? And those very same legislators believe that we should give tax dollars to private voucher schools which will have no attendance requirements, don't even give the UBSCT test, don't have to accept these students in the first place, and make up their own criteria for graduation of their students. Why? Because parents know best.
Want to bet they will be touting the higher graduation rates in private schools, too? This is not only a travesty it's hipocrasy.

Bob G
This is not "living proof of the failure of Utah's education system." Some kids fail. Some choose to, some can't help it. Utah does a GREAT job educating kids, and for a bargain price! What it is, though, is proof that the Legislature should leave education to the USOE rather than mandating the spending of enormous amounts of money on a test whose outcome basically doesn't matter - diploma if you pass, diploma if you don't pass. THE EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHES! This is NOT "high stakes" testing. In fact, it cheapens a Utah diploma. A local business owner told me he preferred to hire kids with a GED over a diploma because he knew they could at least read and do math at a basic level Some kids get a "diploma" through Special Ed or whatever and do not have basic skills. UBSCT is a joke, like the funny kind only different. It has to go.

The whole point of UBSCT is to point out who the low ability/special ed kids are. That used to be done by granting a diploma to those who could pass high school and NOT granting one to those who couldn't, but that was discriminatory so now you have to give a diploma to special ed kids who CAN'T meet graduation requirements, so a diploma is meaningless. A transcript is likewise worthless because you can't denote classes as "special education" anymore, because THAT would be discriminatory. But a differentiated diploma shows who has mastered competencies and who hasn't, without denying special ed kids a diploma.
And in other news, Jennifer Toomer-Cook is an awesome journalist.I always enjoy her articles.

An individual who takes a GED test has to score 70% in all subjects to earn a GED.

Try that same test on high school kids and 50% would not pass who have passed a UBSCT testing.

UBSCT testing is a joke and a waste of time.

This is Utah's answer to No Child Left Behind. They are hedging as usual.