Clayton News Daily

By Trina Trice

Robert Frazee is now officially a high school graduate.

Frazee recently retook the science portion of the Georgia High School Graduation Test and received a passing score after officials lost his first test.

Although the former Lovejoy High School senior was able to participate in the school's commencement ceremony in May, he did not receive a diploma. Instead he was handed a certificate of performance, a document students receive when they don't pass the GHSGT.

Lovejoy High School testing officials lost Frazee's graduation test when he took a portion of it in March.

"I was kind of upset and frustrated," Frazee said. While at graduation, "just sitting there, it frustrated me. I went through four years of high school and did everything I needed to and I couldn't graduate from high school. All just because of a little mistake someone else made."

Since 1991 all high students in the state must take and pass the GHSGT.

Students must pass all four parts of the test, which include writing, English/language arts, math, social studies, and science.

Linda Tanner, assistant superintendent of Area III school, and Dr. Ray Blakely, coordinator of student assessment, investigated what went wrong and made it possible for Frazee to take the test again.

A school's local test administrator is responsible for counting the number of tests distributed to students and the number collected.

Tests are then given to the test coordinator at a central location within the school.

School administrators are working on making sure each school's testing officials are counting behind each other, Tanner said.

Tanner assigned a personal tutor for Frazee who helped him prepare for the test.

"It was one week with a teacher, it was fun because she taught me some stuff I didn't know," Frazee said. "After I took the test, they took it straight over and scored it, and let me know (what he made). I'm glad (about the score). I was kind of worried about not being able to go to college."

Frazee plans to attend Gordon College in Barnesville and then transfer to a four-year college to study business management.