Two years ago, Richmond County Superintendent Charles Larke asked state officials to amend the law. Now he just wants them to follow it.

A test that shouldn't be given has prevented many students from earning high school diplomas, Dr. Larke said during a school board meeting last month.

He has questioned why state officials aren't following state law. Citing the A Plus Education Reform Act of 2000, he and the Richmond County school board are calling for the end of some portions of the Georgia High School Graduation Test.

On Thursday, he asked the state not to have more stringent requirements than the federal government.

The state school board is required to discontinue graduation tests after all core subject End-of-Course Tests have been developed and implemented, according to the state law.

Dr. Larke said many students earn certificates of completion rather than high school diplomas because they fail portions of the graduation test that they should have never taken.

Without a high school diploma, their lives are "put on hold."

"It is our understanding that this is true, this is what the law says," said Dr. Merchuria Chase Williams, the president of the Georgia Association of Educators.

However, she said, federal law supersedes state law.

Each state developed a plan to comply with No Child Left Behind, Dr. Williams said. Georgia education officials decided the graduation test would be a measure of student achievement.

"I understand why they didn't phase out math and reading because they're required by No Child Left Behind," Dr. Larke said. "My point is we're still giving it in all five areas."

No Child Left Behind doesn't require testing in social studies and won't require testing in science until 2007, he said. Moreover, the end-of-course tests should be given because students should be tested immediately after a course is completed.

Dana Tofig, spokesman for the Georgia Department of Education, said end-of-course tests cannot be used to measure adequate yearly progress under No Child Left Behind. The reason: Federal law requires 95 percent participation, and many end-of-course tests don't have 95 percent of the grade level taking the test.

No Child Left Behind requires the graduation test, and state law requires the end-of-course tests, he said.

The federal law, however, doesn't require testing in social studies, Dr. Larke said. And a state requirement that all students take biology would make it no longer necessary to have a science graduation test.

The science and social studies portions of the graduation tests have the least number of students passing them.

Nearly a third of the state's juniors taking the test for the first time failed to meet standards on the science portion of the test last school year, according to the Georgia Department of Education. In Richmond County, about 46 percent failed to make standards. Columbia County fared better, but still had 17 percent who failed to meet standards.

Reach Greg Gelpi at (706) 828-3851 or greg.gelpi@augustachronicle.com.