Align High School Graduation Requirements with College Entrance Requirements
Out of yesterday's Washington Learns report, comes one recommendation that makes so much sense, it's hard to believe it hasn't been put in place already.
In the PI article yesterday, Offer students more help, state's colleges are urged, is the suggestion that "The state should align high school graduation and college entrance requirements to ease the transition to higher education." As James Sulton, executive director of the HEC Board explains, "there is no clean mesh between what students are told they need to do in order to finish high school and told what they need to do in order to get admitted to college."
In other words, students in Seattle (and elsewhere in Washington state) can finish high school with a diploma and a high grade point average and still be ineligible to apply for entrance as a freshman to a state university because they didn't take the required number of years of English, math or other required coursework.
Many kids who are 15 or 16 years old don't have a clear idea of what they want to do professionaly and whether or not they will eventually want to (or need to) attend a four-year college. We shouldn't let these kids opt out of the required coursework to be considered for college admission.
The UW, WSU, Central Washington University, Eastern Washington University, Western Washington University, and Evergreen State College all require:
In the PI article yesterday, Offer students more help, state's colleges are urged, is the suggestion that "The state should align high school graduation and college entrance requirements to ease the transition to higher education." As James Sulton, executive director of the HEC Board explains, "there is no clean mesh between what students are told they need to do in order to finish high school and told what they need to do in order to get admitted to college."
In other words, students in Seattle (and elsewhere in Washington state) can finish high school with a diploma and a high grade point average and still be ineligible to apply for entrance as a freshman to a state university because they didn't take the required number of years of English, math or other required coursework.
Many kids who are 15 or 16 years old don't have a clear idea of what they want to do professionaly and whether or not they will eventually want to (or need to) attend a four-year college. We shouldn't let these kids opt out of the required coursework to be considered for college admission.
The UW, WSU, Central Washington University, Eastern Washington University, Western Washington University, and Evergreen State College all require:
- 4 years of English
- 3 years of Math
- 2 years of Science
- 3 years of Social Studies
- 2 years of a Foreign Language
Schools in Washington state should require the same curricula for a high school diploma. This is one recommendation that Seattle Schools can and should act on without waiting for the state to make decisions about whether or not to implement this Washington Learns recommendation.
Comments
Bellevue has a 7 period day and is also looking at increased rigor
http://www.kingcountyjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061018/NEWS/610180317
Under a revised curriculum being considered by the district, students would need to take four years of math and three years of science before graduating from Bellevue high schools.
Such a change would make the Bellevue School District one of the few in the state with such graduation requirements.
"It's not good for kids to start college and find out they must take remedial course for no credit and you and your folks have to pay for it," said Jan Zuber, assistant superintendent for school administration and curriculum development.
.......Moore said a survey last year found that of the roughly 200 school district responding out of a total of 296 in the state, only one reported that it required four math courses to graduate from high school.
Moore said the state sets a minimum of 19 total credits to graduate, while Bellevue requires 23.5 credits.
However, Zuber said, because the district has seven class periods during the day, rather than the standard six, students could rack up as many as 28 total credits through their four years of high school.
Our Community colleges and vocational schools are great resources, but if students are having to take college prep classes after high school graduation- may I ask what is being taught in high school?
You do point up something of an interesting dilemma. Hale's success(my son just graduated from Hale last June - he liked it but we, as parents, had a decidedly mixed experience) puts in line to be expanded (the building can hold 1500). But Hale's staff don't want to grow larger because of the difficulities of maintaining their staff/student interactions and the high degree of collaboration between teachers.
I wonder how Bellevue can pay for a 7 period day.
Perhaps high school graduation requirements should be more stringent; however, decisions to increase academic requirements and/or rigor should be based on producing high school graduates that have the academic and life skills society expects (or should expect) them to have as high school graduates, which is not necessarily equivalent to the academic skills required to be a college freshman.
Making changes based on the assumption that every high school graduate should be ready to enter a four-year university will not necessarily increase the quality of high school education (we'll just get more, rather than better), but it will probably increase drop-out rates and will perpetuate the notion that earning a college degree is necessary before somebody can become a useful member of society.
1) Alternative education in Bellevue means one middle school and one high school for kids who teachers don't want in the "regular" schools.
2) The push for academic rigor and lots of AP classes has led to a hyper-competitive atmosphere in many high schools which I don't think is healthy.
3)Too much uniformity is required in curriculum and instructional methods for my tastes and educational philosophy.
But, I am also a big believer in the importance of analyzing data. And what Bellevue has accomplished in terms of graduation rates and percentage of kids going to college is quite impressive. This is despite significant increases in ELL populations in the last 5 years.
I know Bellevue does not have the same student population and same issues as Seattle. I don't think Seattle schools should try to be like Bellevue schools. But, I do believe we could learn some things from that district to try in our own --- like more rigorous graduation standards.
Here are a couple relevant articles:
http://uwnews.washington.edu/ni/article.asp?articleID=25044
http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/features/18762.html