Students Will Work Harder for Diplomas
By Steven Carter, The Oregonian, Portland, Ore.
Jan. 12–Oregon officials are set to ratchet up high school graduation requirements, now among the weakest in the nation.
A new diploma would come with a third year of science, require students to pass higher-level math such as algebra and demonstrate essential learning and workplace skills.
The new requirements come up for a vote Thursday by the Oregon Board of Education in Salem. They would start with ninth graders in 2010.
Even though the first wave of tougher diplomas wouldn’t be handed out until the Class of 2014, some superintendents and teachers question whether all students are capable of meeting them. And they wonder whether they would be able to provide the extra math and science courses needed.
“Right now, we are having trouble recruiting people in those fields,” says Kent Hunsaker, executive director of the Confederation of Oregon School Administrators. “Our ability to get kids to high standards really revolves around getting high-quality people to teach them.”
Those concerns have caused the board to move slowly. But board President Jerry Berger of Salem expects the seven-member panel to approve most if not all of the new requirements. He makes no apologies for taking nearly two years to study them.
“We have to create a diploma that works for all students,” he says. “It’s too important to do it in a haphazard fashion.”
Oregon requires less to earn a diploma than most states. To graduate, seniors must complete three years of English and two each of math and science. Even if the board adopts all the new requirements, Oregon would move only to the middle of the pack. Nearly all states require four years of English, most require three years of math and many require three years of science.
Some states, such as Washington and California, require students to pass exams in core subjects to graduate.
And Matt Gandal, executive vice president of Achieve Inc., says many states are adding more rigor to their high school standards, given mediocre U.S. scores on international math and science assessments and warnings from employers that they need graduates with more math, science and communication skills. A few states will require four years of math and three years of lab-based science.
Oregon’s new diploma would replace the 10th-grade level Certificate of Initial Mastery and the 12th-grade Certificate of Advanced Mastery. The CIM requires passing academic tests and completing classroom work samples, but isn’t required for graduation as the diploma is. The CAM, which involved career exploration and workplace skills, was never developed statewide.
Besides more academics, the new requirements would include a set of essential skills, such as making an effective speech, as well as some work skills envisioned in the CAM, such as showing the ability to work on a team.
Students will be able to meet diploma requirements if they can show proficiency in a subject as opposed to having taken the coursework, Berger says. And each student will have a plan for the high school experience that includes goals after graduation — whether college, work or job training.
Board members still disagree on some aspects of the new diploma. Some lean toward a college-preparatory credential that is heavy on traditional higher math and science courses. Others, Berger included, want a wider definition of what math and science courses might qualify for the diploma. The list of skills to learn might be trimmed.
Two years ago, the Oregon Legislature directed all high school students to take four years of English and three years of math but didn’t spell out course content. Those requirements take effect with this year’s sophomores.
The state board is adding to that mix — by requiring a third year of science, higher math and the learning and workplace skills.
Perhaps the biggest point of contention is the new math requirement. Berger says board members agree high school math must be more rigorous, with first-year algebra the minimum level.
But he and some other board members want the second and third years of math to not only be geometry, algebra II or calculus, but also applied math that could be learned in construction courses, electronics or some other career-related course. Details still need to be worked out.
Similarly, Berger says, some board members want a broad definition of required science, so that agricultural science, environmental science or computer science would qualify.
“It has to have rigor, but it doesn’t have to be just biology or chemistry or physics,” Berger says.
Across Oregon, many school districts have higher diploma standards than the state requires. Most students already take four years of English, and many take three or four years of math and science to prepare for college.
For example, Portland Public Schools raised graduation standards in 2005 to include three years of science and three years of math, including algebra, geometry and some higher math beyond that. A year earlier, the district decreed that all freshmen would take first-year algebra unless they had taken it in middle school.
Introducing abstract math to all students has been difficult, says Margaret Calvert, the district’s high school math specialist. It has required more class time or tutoring for some students for whom math doesn’t come easily, she says.
At Wilson High in Southwest Portland, freshmen who struggled with middle school math or had low test scores learn algebra in small classes with two teachers so they can get one-on-one help when they need it.
On a recent morning, math teachers Thor Esbensen and Jon Beima put 20 students through a review of four ways to express a simple equation — rule, graph, table and pattern.
Beima says he doesn’t think all freshman should take algebra; some of his students should be concentrating on mastering basic computation skills. Nonetheless, with algebra required of all freshmen, Beima says many of them respond well to having two teachers in the classroom.
Bailey McAllister, 14, took algebra in eighth grade, but much of it flew over her head. It’s coming easier this year.
“I can get help whenever I need it,” she says.
Heidi Lewis, 15, wants to be a nurse and knows she needs higher math for her science courses. But she never liked math.
“I’m starting to,” she says, “now that I’m understanding it. It’s easier having two teachers.”
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Copyright (c) 2007, The Oregonian, Portland, Ore.
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