“All of a sudden there comes a test, and even if you have all straight A’s you can’t graduate,” she said. “If the things we were expected to know we haven’t learned, how are we supposed to pass the test?”

Although More said she has already been admitted to colleges “that don’t even know what the MCAS is,” including Alabama State University and Johnson &Wales University, she said she worries about her peers, some of whom have pledged to drop out of school.

“It’s more heartbreaking than anything else,” she said. “Do these people have a heart?”

But despite the test results and student protests, school officials said they thought more students would pass the May retest.

“I’m very hopeful that we will have as many of our students as possible graduate,” said CRLS principal Sybil N. Knight.

—Staff writer Claire A. Pasternack can be reached at cpastern@fas.harvard.edu.