| The Board of Directors adopted revised
high school graduation requirements for the class entering high
school in September 2005 and all classes thereafter. All students
will be expected to be full time students for all four years of
high school. A minimum of twenty-seven (27) credits is required
to graduate and will include all of the components listed below:
- English: 4 credits
- Mathematics: 2 credits
- Science (One credit must be in lab science): 2 credits
- Additional Mathematics OR Science: 1 credit
- Washington State History/Government
(Required in 8th grade; no credit toward high school graduation)
- Social Studies/US History/Government: 2 credits
- Contemporary World History, Geography and Problems: 1 credit
- Career and Technical Education: 1 credit
- Health/Fitness: 2 credits
- Fine, Visual or Performing Arts: 1 credit
- Electives: 11 credits
- High school and Beyond Education Program: non-credit requirements
for graduation
- Technology Competency: non-credit requirements for graduation
- Senior Project: non-credit requirements for graduation
The new graduation requirements include the following changes:
High School and Beyond Education Program: 0 credit
New State Graduation Requirement.
Technology Competency (required in middle school; no credit
toward high school graduation; requirement begins with the incoming
freshmen class of 2006-2007)
To address technology competencies, computer literacy skills
are required of all students at the ninth grade level beginning
with the 2006-2007 school year. Curriculum implementation in 2005-2006
will provide computer literacy instruction in all three middle schools.
This will allow students to master and demonstrate computer literacy
proficiencies before reaching high school. Students who do not meet
proficiency levels will be required to complete a computer literacy
course in high school. Proficiency standards are aligned with the
Sumner School District Technology proficiencies.
This requirement will assure that more students possess the
computer skills they need to be successful in high school courses.
In addition, students will be better able to access upper level
business and information technology courses. This revised tech competency
requirement addresses the recommendations of a parent, student and
staff survey conducted in 2001.
Science (one credit must be lab science): 2 credits
Additional Mathematics OR Science: 1 credit
This is a change from the 3 credits in science required in the
previous graduation requirements. Because a decision has been made
to make science classes in grades 9 and 10 year-long instead of
semester-long, students will be getting more science than previously
required. The additional math OR science requirement will increase
academic rigor, but allow students a choice of subject area.
Electives (6 credits must be taken in student's focus area
of study): 11 credits
A focus area of study is a sequence of courses, which provide
depth in a student's area of academic interest, e.g., in the specific
area of "Math, Science and Engineering" the sequence of
courses could be the pre-engineering classes of Principles of Engineering,
Introduction to Engineering Design, college prep math, college prep
science.
Total credits required for graduation: 27 credits
Because of the schedule for grades 9 and 10 in which students
will be taking seven classes per year, instead of eight classes
per year, students in the incoming class of 2005 and thereafter
will have the ability to earn a maximum of 30 credits instead of
32. The total number of required credits has been adjusted accordingly
to 27 instead of 29.
All students will be expected to be full time students for all four
years of high school.
This language was added to the graduation requirements to address
the concern regarding the number of seniors who elect to attend
school part time. Research has shown that part time attendance adversely
impacts the student's potential success in academic and career plans
beyond high school.
To insure our seniors are prepared for the next step, we feel
it is important for them to engage in a full-time course of study
throughout their senior year. This could include work-based learning;
however, students would be required to complete a work-based learning
plan, which meets the requirements for school credit for those work
experiences.
For more information visit the Office
of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) Web site.
Four steps to graduation (OSPI Web site)
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