State gives preliminary OK to more graduation requirements

The state Board of Education gave preliminary approval Monday to adding requirements for high school students to get their diplomas.

Without dissent, the board agreed to add a mandate for an additional year of math and a half year of economics to the graduation requirement for the Class of 2012.

Now, only two credits of math are required — algebra and geometry — with no specific mandate for any courses in economics.

Students in the Class of 2013 — this year’s eighth-graders — will need to have four years of math to graduate.

And beginning with that group, the third year will need to be a second year of algebra or something equivalent.

They also will need a third year of science above the two currently required.

But board members, who still need to give final approval after two public hearings, agreed to a bit of flexibility.

First, they decided if a course is broad enough, it could actually count for two requirements.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne said that might include a math course with a significant component of economics.

Horne said one major benefit is to leave more time for electives, which are being trimmed to make room for the new mandatory courses.

Second, students and their parents can petition to avoid only the Algebra II requirement by asking for a “personal curriculum” that would allow the youngster to graduate by taking another course geared to what that person had planned to do after high school.

What provoked more discussion was a new requirement for all school districts to offer what has been termed a “regents diploma” to all students.

This would include not just everything required to graduate under the new standards but also two years of foreign languages as well as spelling out that the fourth year of math would have to be in an area with Algebra II as a requirement.

The list is supposed to represent what it takes to get admitted to one of the state’s three public universities.

Board member Jesse Ary openly worried about creating what would be considered a first-class and second-class diploma.

But board President Karen Nicodemus said it should not be seen that way.

She said one purpose behind the regents diploma would be to send a clear message to students that this group of courses is what they need if they want to go on to a university education. And Nicodemus, president of Cochise College, said it also represents the standard the board believes is appropriate.

“The regents diploma most reflects what we said is the right thing to do,” she said. “We talked about world languages being important when we talk about competing in a global economy.”

Nicodemus, however, said the diploma presents a “dilemma” because earning it doesn’t necessarily guarantee a high school graduate admission into college.

Conversely, she said, universities do accept students with certain deficiencies in their course work.