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Board makes changes to graduation requirements
Students who will enter eighth grade in Douglas County this year will have to fulfill new requirements to graduate in 2005.
By Tom Herman
The county board of education approved on first reading changes to the credit requirements needed to receive a high school diploma.
Starting with the class of 2005, students will be required to take three years of science and three years of mathematics courses. The previous requirement was two years in each subject.
Additionally, one of the three years required for math will have to be algebra. The added courses and textbooks will be decided by a curriculum council.
The added science courses sparked concern about added costs from Bill Reimer, chief operating officer for support for the district.
“That could mean additional labs and equipment,” Reimer said. “Those would have to be planned for and added to the budget figures.”
However, the courses will not have to be lab-work courses, said director of high schools Ray Smith and former assistant superintendent Pat Grippe.
Many science courses are available that are not lab-dependent, said board member John Sheehan.
The number of credits required to graduate — 25.5 — will not increase. However, students will have to take 17.5 hours of core classes, such as English, math, science and social studies, and eight hours of electives.
The previous requirements were 15.5 hours and 10 hours, respectively.
Board members agreed with secretary Victoria Starkey that a senior project be added to the requirements.
To graduate, students also must score at proficient of higher on the Colorado Student Assessment Program or equivalent assessment tests in reading, writing, math, science and social studies.
Students who do not score at least proficient might be required to take additional courses that could include correspondence, college or online coursework.
The district also no longer will encourage all students to take two years of foreign language courses. However, because most colleges and universities require two years, counselors will work with individuals on those requirements.
Before it can implement the requirements, the district first will have to define course offerings in science and math, revise the social studies curriculum, rewrite the regulations for student directions for course selection, address technology literacy, develop assessments for students who are not proficient on 10th-grade testing and develop electronic means of tracking student progress in meeting standards.
The changes will be presented to the board Aug. 15 for the second reading.
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