Nearly 13,000 high school seniors in Florida will not graduate as scheduled this year because they failed to pass the Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test.

The number, which amounts to one in 11 high school seniors, has prompted some school boards across the state to take actions into their own hands, allowing seniors who have met all the other graduation requirements, to participate in commencement ceremonies anyway.

That means the students can receive the accolades of their family and friends, but they won't receive a diploma.

THE FCAT FCAT Tutorial Locations FCAT Boycott Begins FCAT Divides Activists, Governor What do you think of the FCAT? No FCAT, No Graduation? The FCAT Controversy: Share Your Views

Since Gov. Jeb Bush ended social promotion in the state during his first term in office, Florida requires students in all grades, starting with kindergarten, to take the FCAT, and in some lower grades to pass the standardized test in order to advance to the next grade.

This is the first year that seniors have been required to pass the test, which measures reading, writing and math skills, before graduating.

The requirement was supposed to help ensure students met minimum standards as they advanced from grade to grade, but leaders of South Florida's black community, backed by a group of state legislators, say the test is unfair to minority students. The group plans a protest this week to denounce the FCAT. And they have threatened a statewide boycott of key Florida industries if Bush fails to to put aside the consequences for students who failed this year's test and re-examine the FCAT policies.

Bush administration officials have said they won't set aside the results, so the group is calling for boycotts of the Florida Lottery, the state's citrus industry and its major theme parks, among other measures, starting on May 22.

The governor and his supporters have criticized the protesters, noting that scores have gone up since the test was started in 1998 and minority students have made some of the biggest gains.

"This is a time to celebrate, this is not a time to boycott," Bush said last week.

But even with the increases, state results show that only four in 10 black fourth graders are reading at or above grade level, along with just over half of Hispanic students.

Some Students Will Get Cap, Gown, No Diploma

Schradaath Charles is one of 27 seniors at Naples High who have met all the requirements necessary to receive a diploma -- except passing the FCAT. Charles, 18, spoke almost no English when she came to the United States four years ago from her native Haiti.

With the new school board ruling, Charles can don a cap and gown, even though she won't get a diploma on graduation night.

"I'm really happy I get to walk with my friends," Charles said. "I'm not going to give up and I'm going to do everything I can to pass (the FCAT)."

Naples High counselor Bernardo Torres said he'd like to see the state implement a different FCAT scoring system, especially in reading, for students who are still learning English.

In Haines City, 82 seniors -- more than 25 percent of the senior class -- are being denied graduation because of the FCAT, principal Duane Collins said. Haines City has Polk County's highest percentage of students for whom English is a second language.

"It's easy to be upset over generalities. ... (But) the schools are not failing the kids," Collins said. "I'm just not sure we're being treated fairly with the grading system."

At least six other Florida counties -- Seminole, Orange, Lake, Osceola, Volusia and Polk -- have similar graduation policies regarding seniors who have not passed the FCAT.

Seniors have had at least five opportunities to take the FCAT -- once as sophomores, twice more as juniors and twice more as seniors. Those still seeking their diplomas after graduation day can continue taking the test indefinitely.

Not everyone agrees with the relaxed policies on participating in graduation. "Sometimes people get confused about what the ceremony represents," Pasco County district administrator Robert Dorn said. "Graduation is not the last significant social event of senior year. It is a recognition of students who have earned their diplomas."

But Limar Wilson, who will receive a regular diploma from Seminole's Lyman High on May 27, said he has no problem with students participating in graduation ceremonies without first passing the FCAT.

"They went to school just like we did," said Wilson, 18. "They tried their hardest and they got their work done. They just couldn't pass the test."