Recently, numerous articles (here and here and here) have explained or editorialized about the Washington State Board of Education’s likely approval of a proposal to require students to complete 24 credits to graduate instead of the current 19. Since the state only funds 20 of those credits now, more money will need to be provided. Many schools currently use 5 period days, which would then need to restructure. Other factors come into play as well, including how many students currently never reach Algebra II (a new requirement under this new diploma standard).
I am again going to repost an article I wrote back in December of last year about having multiple diplomas. Maybe we can have gold, silver, bronze, and white diplomas or some other classification to show the level of work completed by students. Maybe the new standards–while not required of all students–could be the requirement for earning the top diploma. I still believe giving all kids the same diploma is disingenuous and somewhat deceptive. A diploma should reflect what is learned, the level of achievement. Here is my old post entitled “Differentiated Diplomas“: Read the rest of this entry »
