Tagged: high school graduation

Columbia’s Frederick H. Douglass High School celebrated its largest graduating class since the building reopened as a desegregated high school in the 1980s.  

“This day, we celebrate the triumph and determination and hope of, hear this number, people, 72 graduates,” Douglass principal Eryca Neville announced to a roaring auditorium, packed full of proud family and friends. 

This is the last year high school dropouts will be able to earn their Missouri High School Equivalency Certificate before a tougher, more expensive version of the GED is rolled out.

The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education says the current test will be replaced with a new, computer-based assessment in 2014.

The 2014 test is tied to Common Core Standards -- a set of uniform math and English benchmarks adopted by states. The standards are designed to ensure that students are prepared for college or the workforce.

Preliminary figures were released Monday showing how many Missouri high school students graduated this year.