Graduating from high school will be a little harder for students in the class of 2005 because new, more challenging tests will replace the ninth-grade proficiency tests required for graduation.

The new Ohio high school graduation qualifying tests will assess skills and knowledge taught through the 10th grade, unlike the ninth-grade proficiencies that test what was learned through the eighth grade.

The new tests will be based on the ninth-grade proficiencies and will have the same sections: writing, reading, math, citizenship and science, said Jan Crandell, assistant director in the Assessment Center of the Ohio Department of Education.

The reading and writing sections of the new test will differ greatly from the ninth-grade proficiencies in the level of sophistication of both the reading passages and what will be required in the writing samples, she said.

Although the tests will be harder, Athens High School Principal Mike Meek said he does not think the new test will lower graduation rates.

"I don't have a problem with the exit tests; I think they're a good idea," he said. "Our proficiency scores are good in Athens."

Last year, all students in Athens County who took the ninth-grade proficiency tests passed in time to graduate. Ohio's high school students have had to pass state tests to earn a high school diploma since 1990.

But Meek said he thinks students who are poor test takers should be offered an alternative to the exit tests.There will be no alternatives to the tests, which all 10th-graders in public and chartered non-public high schools will take at the end of tenth grade. The tests will be implemented in Spring 2003, according to the ODE's Web site.

After Sept. 15, 2004, students must pass all sections of the test and complete curriculum requirements to receive a high school diploma. The new tests will be administered in the spring of the 10th grade, twice in the 11th grade and twice in the 12th grade. Some students with special circumstances might also take the test in the summer, Crandell said.

When the new tests are introduced, the ninth-grade proficiencies will be phased out, Crandell said. But 12th-grade proficiency tests still will be administered. The 12th-grade tests need revision because the curriculum requirements for graduation will change from 18 to 21 credits beginning with the class of 2002. The skills and knowledge assessed on the 12th-grade tests need to reflect that change, she said.

It is unlikely the ODE will eventually require students to pass tests that assess skills and knowledge taught through the 12th grade in order to graduate because students need more than one chance to take the graduation qualifying tests, Crandell said.