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New Graduation Requirements

KBE approves graduation requirement changes despite call for pause

Kentucky School Advocate
November 2018

By Brenna R. Kelly
Staff writer

It’s one of the key responsibilities of a local school board – setting graduation requirements for the district. But those requirements are in addition to state-mandated requirements set by the Kentucky Board of Education.

The state board, at its October meeting, approved a plan to change the minimum graduation requirements despite an outcry from the state’s education advocacy groups, superintendents and the state’s NAACP branches.

The changes include adding a 10th grade exam in math and reading, requiring students be “transition-ready” in academics or a career in order to graduate and eliminating Algebra II as a requirement.

Though Kentucky’s graduation rate of nearly 90 percent is one of the highest in the nation, Education Commissioner Wayne Lewis said before the vote that many Kentucky high school graduates are unprepared for life after high school.

“Rather than celebrate our high school graduation rate, we should hang our heads in shame that what we've given to many students is a certificate of attendance,” he said.

The education groups asking to delay the vote, including KSBA, the Kentucky Association of School Administrators, Kentucky Association of School Superintendents, Kentucky Education Association and the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, wanted the state board to take time to gather input from stakeholders and examine the unintended consequences of the plan.

A series of town hall meetings planned by previous Commissioner Stephen Pruitt to gather input on the plan were called off in April, just days after Lewis was appointed interim commissioner. Instead, Lewis encouraged stakeholders to provide feedback in an online survey.

The Local Superintendents Advisory Council (LSAC), which offers feedback to KBE, also did not endorse the proposal.

“There was considerable discussion around this regulation with no motion to approve,” LSAC chairman Jerry Green, superintendent of Pikeville Independent Schools, wrote in a letter to the state board.

Among the education groups’ concerns was that requiring an exit exam could be detrimental.

“The very same students we are trying to better serve with more meaningful diplomas will be the same students left with no diplomas if we predicate graduation on passing high-stakes exams,” said Kerri Schelling, KSBA executive director.

Other states have moved away from such exams after research has shown that they do not positively impact student achievement, graduation or postsecondary outcomes.

“They are simply not effective and they can actually do harm,” Brigitte Blom Ramsey, executive director of the Prichard Committee said during a discussion on KET’s “Kentucky Tonight.”

The new requirements also include a provision that students take multiple elective courses and, if students are seeking the career ready requirement, multiple dual credit courses. But many districts may not be able to offer varied course options due to a lack of funding and qualified dual credit teachers.

Bowling Green Independent Superintendent Gary Fields said that while he has reservations about the exit exams, he supports most of the changes.

“I think there are a lot of positives in it,” said Fields, who was a high school principal for 13 years. “I think that more flexibility for requirements for kids at the high school level is a good thing.”

Today, it’s hard for many students to fit in electives because of the mandated requirements, he said. By eliminating Algebra II, students will be able to take a math they are more interested in, he said.

Fields agrees with the critics that it will be hard for some districts to provide the multiple courses needed under the new requirements, particularly at smaller high schools.

“Funding is always an issue,” he said. “But ultimately isn’t it our jobs to individualize these experiences for kids in high school? So, we can complain, but in my mind we should be creating course sequences and pathways for these kids that are best for them. But it is going to be hard.”

If students cannot meet the new requirements, which would be in effect for Class of 2023, they will be allowed to appeal based on their eighth-grade test scores or by submitting a portfolio to the district’s superintendent.

What’s next for graduation requirement proposal:

Oct. 3: KBE voted to approve new minimum graduation requirements.

Nov. 22: Last day to sign up to speak at the public hearing scheduled for Nov. 29.

Nov. 29: A public hearing will be held at 10 a.m. on Nov. 29 in the State Board Room on the Fifth Floor of the Kentucky Department of Education at 300 Sower Blvd. in Frankfort.

Now through Nov. 30: Anyone interested can email comments on the proposal to [email protected].

Dec. 5: Kentucky Board of Education meeting where the board could choose to amend the proposal, leave it unchanged or delay it for more consideration.

If approved: The regulation will be reviewed by the legislative Administrative Regulation Review Subcommittee. It will then go to the House & Senate Education Committees for a possible second review.

Fall 2019: Students entering high school will be subject to the new credit requirements and the transition readiness requirement.

Fall 2020: Students entering high school will also be subject to the 10th grade math and reading exit exam.