District Education Center, 2520 East 12th Avenue, North St. Paul, MN 55109  651-748-7622

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Diploma Testing

Students need to pass diploma tests in reading, mathematics and  written composition in order to graduate with a Minnesota public high school diploma.  Students who entered 8th grade during or before the 2004/5 school year (mostly our seniors) take the Basic Skills Tests. Student entering 8th grade during the 2005/6 school year or later take the GRAD (Graduation Required Assessment for Diploma) tests.

GRAD
Our current Junior class is the first subject to the GRAD standard.  Students first take the GRAD writing in grade 9.  The reading GRAD is embedded in the grade 10 MCA-II reading test. Math is embedded in the grade 11 math MCA-II.

Student pass writing with a score of 3 or more out of 6 possible points.  Retake opportunities are offered at least twice a year.

Students pass the reading and math GRAD either by meeting or exceeding standard on the MCA-II, or obtaining a passing score on the subset of test questions on the MCA-II that apply to the GRAD standard. Retakes are available throughout the year during scheduled test windows. Reading and math retakes are taken on the computer.

The GRAD retest windows:

October 7-15, 2008
November 4 -12, 2008
December 2 - 10, 2008
January 6 - 14, 2009
February 3 - 11, 2009

March 3-11, 2009
April 7-15, 2009
May 5-13, 2009
June, 2009: not offered
July 7-15, 2009

Specific test dates are determined by schools. Your child will be notified of his or her need to  retake a GRAD test.

GRAD Pactice Tests
Practice writing promts are available from the Minnesota Department of Education website. 

The GRAD reading practice test is delivered by computer, and is available to students at school.  You may also download and install the GRAD reading practice test on your home computer. Downloads and instructions are available at the NCS Pearson website.  (Pearson is Minnesota's state testing vendor)

The Basic Skills Test (BST)
Our current seniors are the last group of students subject to the BST testing standard.

The BST math and reading tests were first offered to students in grade 8.  Writing was first offered in grade 10.  Students who still need to pass one or more BSTs have opportunites in November, February, April and July. 

BST Pactice Tests
Practice tests are available from the Minnesota Department of Education website. 

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