Many states now require students to pass an exit exam in order to obtain their high school diploma. While motivated by genuine concern about the educational system, these tests often discriminate unfairly against students with dyslexia. Your child may have very limited areas of difficulty, such as a disability with math, which makes it impossible for him to pass the test, even though he has studied hard and earned good grades in high school.

In some cases, your child's problem may simply be with test-taking — you may observe that he is functioning quite well working at home or in the classroom, but for some reason he consistently performs poorly on tests.

Unfortunately, many states have also failed to provide adequate accommodations to students with learning disabilities when taking the exit exam. Thus you may find that your child is able to obtain high scores on SAT math exams, where students are urged to bring calculators, but cannot pass the state exit exam, where calculators are not allowed.

Lawsuits have been brought in many states to compel authorities to provide appropriate accommodations on these tests, or to provide for alternate forms of assessment to enable students to obtain high school diplomas. Some states offer more than one form of diploma, certificate, or exit credential, some of which do not require the exit exam; but parents are rightly concerned that their child may be left with a second-class diploma which may be viewed negatively by prospective employers or by colleges.

If your child's dyslexia makes it hard for him to pass the exit exam, or if he cannot meet high school graduation requirements for other reasons, he can work toward obtaining a GED (General Education Diploma), which is widely accepted by community colleges and employers as the “equivalent” of a high school diploma. Many four-year colleges also will accept students with GEDs, as well as welcoming transfer students who have completed two-year degrees at community colleges.