HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania school administrators are divided over whether high-school students should have to pass a series of state-sanctioned tests to graduate.

They discussed the proposed graduation standards at a hearing Wednesday before a panel of the State Board of Education. The board plans to adopt the rules on Jan. 17, beginning a regulatory review that could take a year to complete before the proposal becomes official.

The regulations call for students to pass tests covering English, math, science and social studies during their high-school years. They would replace traditional final exams, starting with the class of 2014. Schools would have to provide remedial help for failing students and give them opportunities to retake the tests. The state would create 10 subject-specific "graduation competency assessments" to measure students' graduation readiness; students would need to pass six to graduate.

Some administrators echoed objections by the Pennsylvania School Boards Association and the Pennsylvania State Education Association, the state's largest teachers' union, saying that the new testing system would impose an exceedingly narrow set of standards.

Richard Gusick, a strategic planning administrator for the Tredyffrin-Easttown School District in Chester County, said traditional testing alone cannot measure whether students are ready for college or careers. Most students can demonstrate their graduation readiness by passing the 11th-grade Pennsylvania System of School Assessment, or PSSA, tests already mandated by the state, Gusick said. Those who cannot are allowed to use alternative assessments such as hands-on demonstrations, portfolios and oral presentations, he said.

"Using a myriad of these strategies, our teachers are able to determine proficiency levels that may not be accurately reflected on an impersonal exam," Gusick said.

The regulations would also force students in vocational programs to spend more time taking college preparatory courses they ordinarily would not need for a diploma, said Jacqueline Cullen, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of Career and Technical Administrators.

"To compare, colleges do not disenfranchise English majors because they do not take the same high levels of mathematics taken by engineering students," Cullen said.

Other school leaders supported the new rules, saying they would ensure that all students are held to consistent expectations across Pennsylvania's 501 school districts.

In the Chester Upland School District, one of the state's most impoverished systems, only 20 percent of the most recent graduating class went on to college, and the vast majority had to complete remedial courses before they could enroll, school superintendent Gregory Thornton said.

"Certainly as we are somewhat fearful of high-stakes testing, I'm fearful of a high-stakes world that our youngsters will not be prepared for," Thornton said.

The new testing system is one of a dozen recommendations made by a commission formed by Gov. Ed Rendell to strengthen graduation standards.