What's the point?

Someone tell me, what's the point of our state's ISTEP+ Graduation Qualifying Exam (GQE) if you don't have to pass it to graduate? Yes, you read that right. You don't have to pass teh GQE to graduate. More than 3,300 high school seniors graduated from Indiana public schools last year even though they flunked the state's graduation test five times.

The state does set rules about who qualifies for a waiver (a 95 percent attendance record and a C average in key classes) but the principals are the ones who decide which students receive a waiver. Unfortunately, no one monitors the system to ensure that the principals are following the guidelines!

I'm not a huge fan of standardized testing. I don't particuarly like the idea that getting a diploma boils down to passing one single test as opposed to how the child performed in school for the past 12 years. BUT.....if they failed the same test 5 times, doesn't that say something about where they are academically?