Maryland high school students will be required to pass a battery of exams to graduate, though students who fail will be allowed to complete a special project in place of the tests, the state Board of Education ruled Wednesday.

The 8-4 vote came after two days of contentious meetings over whether or not to require the high school assessments in four subjects: algebra, biology, English and government.

All students in the class of 2009, who are now sophomores, must take the tests. But under a proposal from state Superintendent Nancy Grasmick called the “Bridge Plan,” students who fail an exam twice will be allowed to develop a project in that subject area to graduate.

Montgomery County Superintendent Jerry D. Weast had supported removing the tests from graduation requirements. Brian Edwards, Weast’s chief of staff, said Wednesday that more detail about how the Bridge Plan will work was necessary.

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“The question is, how does this Bridge Plan work at the functional level, at the school level?’’ Edwards asked.

State board member Blair Ewing, a former Montgomery County Council president and former county Board of Education member, criticized the decision Wednesday, saying more time is needed to work on lining up infrastructure to support the tests and add better educators to teach the necessary material.

He was one of four members, including Charlene Dukes, Rosa Garcia and Mary Kay Finan, to oppose Grasmick’s plan.

“It’s punishing [the students] for the failures of adults and that’s wrong,” Ewing said. “They need the assurance of a high-quality teacher in every class room. ... These systems are not in place in every jurisdiction.”

Ewing said he thinks the plan will cause dropout rates to rise because students who have trouble passing the test will not be willing to make the effort on the project.

Ewing supported an effort that would have delayed until 2010 requiring the exams for graduation. That effort also failed 8-4, he said.

cmabeus@dcexaminer.com