Some 12,000 students - or 19 percent - of the Bay State's high school class of 2003 may be denied diplomas after repeatedly failing the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System exams. The state has established an appeals process for students who come close to passing after three attempts, but district officials are discouraged by the "overwhelming" amount of work involved, with some urban officials complaining that the state purposefully made the process cumbersome to discourage appeals. While hopeful students prepare themselves for a December retest, superintendents are busy preparing the appeals by collecting attendance records, teacher recommendations, work samples, and calculations on how each student's grades stack up against his or her classmates. See "Some Schools find MCAS process daunting," by Michael Kurtz, The Boston Globe, October 21, 2002. By contrast, in Pennsylvania, where test results have no bearing on graduation, the state is urging - but not requiring - tens of thousands of high school seniors to retake the math, reading and writing assessment exams they failed. "Pa. students urged to retake state tests," by Connie Langland, The Philadelphia Inquirer, October 18, 2002
