New Graduation Requirements Debated Students, Parents, Teachers Share Thoughts With State Panel About Making It Tougher To Get Diploma

North Central High School Principal Mike McGuire thinks it’s a good idea for students to complete a senior project as a graduation requirement.

Spokane parent Gayle Corativo believes the state’s minimum high school graduation requirements should be left as is.

And NC student Renata Rollins feels that stacking more requirements onto high school graduation will merely overburden students. The three were among about 50 people from the region who offered their often divergent opinions Thursday night in Spokane at a public forum held by the state Board of Education.

As part of statewide education reform, the board’s Graduation Requirements and Diploma (GRAD) Committee recently made draft recommendations to bolster graduation requirements.

“This is in no way intended to be a hollow exercise,” said Larry Davis, executive director of the state Board of Education. “No decision has been pre-ordained. This is gut-check time to make sure the GRAD Committee hasn’t been out in left field.”

The forum was the first of seven that are being held around the state through March. With the public’s input, the GRAD Committee will tailor its proposal and pass on a final set of recommendations to the board. If approved, the revamped high school graduation requirements could first apply to the graduating class of 2008.

Among the draft recommendations, the GRAD Committee has proposed that students be required to complete a project or present a portfolio of work that demonstrates their ability to integrate knowledge into real-life experience. McGuire said he believed senior projects can be a great experience for students. While others agreed, the forum came to a consensus that it should be an individual school district’s decision, not a state mandate.

Meanwhile, Rollins, a junior, said high schoolers have enough to do, especially goal-oriented students who are busy researching colleges, preparing for advanced placement exams and applying for scholarships.

“I don’t think it’s fair to bring down the students who have their minds set and know what they want to do,” Rollins said.

The committee also has recommended requiring a foreign language or a class dealing with world cultures.

North Central drama teacher Tom Armitage believes that the recommendation should apply to earlier grades.

“School districts should focus on foreign language in kindergarten through third grade,” he said. “I don’t think adding a credit of foreign language in high school is going to do the trick to educate our kids culturally.”

The state’s current graduation requirements mandate that students complete a minimum of 19 credits, which are divided up among core subjects, including English, math, science, history or government, physical education, occupational education, art and other electives.

Among the proposals, most of the debate Thursday centered around those tied to the state’s new assessment tool - the Washington Assessment of Student Learning.

The new test, known as the WASL, was introduced in 1997 and is at the center of the state’s education reform. The complete test, which will span several subject areas, won’t be on line until 2008. Students in the fourth, seventh and 10th grades are required to take it. Passing the 10th-grade test will become a graduation requirement in the future.

Several forum members said that making the 10th-grade test a graduation requirement is unfair.

“It should not be a requirement of graduation,” said Corativo, whose three children attend schools in the Mead district. “I don’t think they measure what students know. I believe it’s neither reliable or valid and it’s graded subjectively.”

The GRAD Committee has proposed giving local school districts the responsibility of assessing whether students meet the state’s minimum standards in core subjects until all of the WASL tests are fully in place.

Additionally, the committee suggests that school districts also assess students in areas that can’t be measured by the tests, such as social skills and using language to interact effectively with others.

Many questioned the ability of schools to measure students in such subjective areas.