MOUNT VERNON — Your child went through four years of high school, took all the required classes and now is set to graduate, right? Not necessarily.

A dozen or so students in the area have found themselves in the position of not being able to graduate with their classmates, primarily because they have failed one or more parts of the Ohio Graduation Tests.

The Ohio Department of Education requires students to pass all five sections of the OGT as a graduation requirement. If seniors have not passed all required parts of the OGT before their intended date of graduation, they will not graduate with their classmates. However, it is up to the local school board whether the students may participate in commencement ceremonies, that is, “walk” with their classmates without getting a diploma.

Students have multiple opportunities to pass the OGT, taking it for the first time in the spring of their sophomore year. Students who do not pass one or more tests on their first attempt will retake the tests they need to pass during their junior and senior years.

All school districts offer special help to those who may need an additional boost. Many provide intensive after-school tutoring a month or so prior to the test administration, others have ongoing study assistance programs, and some have concentrated intervention just before the summer test date.

Ohio Graduation Tests are administered each fall and spring, with an optional summer administration available within some school districts, such as Mount Vernon, Highland and East Knox.

According to the ODE, students may continue to take the OGT until they pass all required parts, which would then allow them to earn their diplomas. The first opportunity to take the test after their senior year would be in July during the summer administration of the OGT. Students should contact a school district well in advance of the test dates to learn if their school offers a summer test and to learn the requirements to sit for the test.

If students meet certain other conditions, however, they could graduate and receive a diploma without passing all five tests of the OGT. To do so, the students must do all of the following:

•Pass four of the five tests and have missed passing the fifth test by no more than 10 scale score points.

•Have had a 97 percent attendance rate each of the last four years and must not have had an expulsion in the last four years.

•Have a grade point average of 2.5 out of 4.0 in the subject area missed and have completed the curriculum requirement in the subject area missed.

•Have participated in any intervention programs offered by the school and must have had a 97 percent attendance rate in any program offered outside the normal school day or year, including those offered by someone other than the school.

•Obtain letters of recommendation from each teacher in the subject area not yet passed, and the high school principal.