The stakes are high for Minnesota students, and it could mean no graduation diploma.

The standards test MCA-II is required for all 11th-graders in mid-April. A new component of this test are the Graduation-Required Assessments for Diploma (GRAD) sections — a high-stakes portion students must pass in order to fulfill graduation requirements.

Also, 10th-graders must pass the GRAD section of the reading test to graduate.

Last year in Austin, 33 percent of math test-takers met or exceeded standards— 1 percent lower than the state average. However, students performed remarkably better than in 2007 (22 percent) and 2006 (21 percent).

In reading, 10th grade students averaged 81 percent in 2008, 53 percent in 2007 and 61 percent in 2006.

According to Kathy Green, a school board member and delegate to the Minnesota School Boards Association, students who don’t meet standards can “take it every six weeks (until their senior year). It’s not a do or die.”

New math standards were also implemented in 2007.

“These current standards we have in place — for these kids who will be taking the 11th grade test — have not come up through the system with 2007 standards,” Green explained.

“It could have been that the kids weren’t taking it seriously,” she said of the low pass rate for math.

“By the end of 11th grade, you should have gotten this.”

However, Green is confident students will begin to make progress once they have moved up through the school system with the new standards.

“I’m concerned, but I believe we are a step ahead of the game as far as the curriculum goes,” she said.