Michigan institutes Language requirement for high school graduates

[Harold F. Schiffman]

 Graduation requirements change for Michigan students

Source Staff Writer

A uniform has found its way into public schools as new legislation signed
by Gov. Jennifer Granholm would now necessitate schools throughout the
state to follow standardized graduation requirements. Until legislation
was passed by the Senate and signed by the governor March 30, one civics
class was the only requirement the state had for a public high school
student to graduate. That left it to the individual school district to
fill in the blanks. The goal of this legislation is that at the end of
K-12, all students should have learned the same content, whether they went
to school in Escanaba or Utica, State Rep. Brian Palmer said. We dont want
the students education to be compromised because they moved to another
school district.  But there are still provisions that allow the local
schools to decide how to present these requirements.

Schools throughout the state will need to adopt the requirements into
their curricula and hold their students to the changes. To graduate,
students expecting to graduate in 2011 will now need four credits of
English; three and one-half credits of mathematics, three credits of
science and social studies; two credits of foreign language; one credit of
physical education and health; one credit of visual, performing or applied
arts; and one online learning experience class or equivalent experience.
For many Michigan schools, the changes will lead to less elective choices
for the students as the legislation has tougher standards than most high
schools currently require. For example, Utica Community Schools already
requires students to have four English classes and three science classes,
but only require two social studies classes and three math classes, up to
and including algebra II.

In anticipation of the changes, the UCS Board of Education passed an
updated policy enabling the district to comply with the new requirements.
The UCS board had also recently changed its own graduation requirements
after parents and students voiced concerns about the districts decision to
go from an 8-period school day to a 6-period day. The district has stated
that the decision to go from eight to six periods was meant to save funds,
but parents and students in the district felt that the decision would
limit the amount of electives students would have.  The administration
reviewed the graduation requirements and the board approved the suggested
changes, opening up some of the lost electives due to the period changes.

Both the policy change and graduation requirement changes by the board
took place last fall. Among the changes in the graduation requirements
made by the UCS board was the elimination of physical education. With the
state change, UCS will now be required to put that back into the
requirements. It wasnt that we didnt think physical education was
necessary, but our parents said they wanted students to have choices, so
we needed to get rid of some of our requirements in order for the students
to maintain their elective choices, UCS Spokeswoman Hildy Corbett said.
But we are required now to offer the states curriculum and graduation
requirements, and whatever wiggle room we did have will be impacted and
student choices will be limited. Exactly how (it will be limited) we dont
know yet. But we are already working on this and we will be ready for the
changes.

Districts in the area may also find some flexibility in the foreign
language requirement and the online experience credit. The state will now
require two credits of foreign language. With the changes made in the
fall, UCS requires students to complete a total of two credits in either
foreign language, career and technical education or the fine arts (the
state requires an additional credit for fine arts under a separate
category). But the state requirement will allow students to complete the
required two credits in foreign language prior to entering high school.
Some schools, UCS included, already offer some type of foreign language
class in elementary school and/or junior high school. It is our hope that
schools will offer foreign language at an earlier level than high school,
when students absorb and pick it up quicker anyway, Palmer said.
Completing it earlier will also open up some choices for the students when
they enter high school.

Online experience is also more flexible, allowing schools to incorporate
online learning into other classes if they dont want to or are unable to
designate a full class to the topic. Online experience would include
learning to do research on the Internet. The Michigan Department of
Education wanted to find a way to make sure that students will learn
life-long learning using the Internet, Palmer said. They want to make sure
students know how to learn online and can develop the skills to learn
online. Palmer also noted that many provisions were added to the
legislation allowing for the yearly review of the graduation requirements.

If we need to go back and look at this, we can, Palmer said. We set the
bar high with these goals, but set those provisions so that we can go back
and revisit it. We want to send out the signal that Michigan wants to set
good standards for our students. Incoming eighth-graders in public schools
will be the first class affected by the change.


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