Pennsylvania Board Approves New Exit Requirements

The Pennsylvania state board of education has approved a new set of graduation requirements that would allow districts to offer four ways for students to prove their academic proficiency.

The panel’s unanimous vote Jan. 17 to change state regulations was an attempt to close what state officials viewed as loopholes in the way diplomas are conferred, but still preserve the state’s tradition of local school district control.

Board Chairman Karl Girton hailed the new rules as signaling an end to the “rubber yardstick” by which districts have been allowed...