SBOE Testimony on HS Graduation Requirements 12-11-2024
/DC State Board of Education
December 11, 2024
Cathy Reilly – Ward 4 Education Alliance, SHAPPE and C4DC
I would like to start by extending my appreciation and gratitude for the work of Frazier O’Leary, the Ward 4 SBOE representative for the last 6 years. Frazier has been assessable, attended tons of meetings to listen and connected with the schools on a regular basis delivering books. I want to thank Carlene for her courageous and informed positions on many issues. I feel we have all been informed and enriched by her contributions to your work as a State Board of Education. You will be missed as we welcome T Michelle Colson and LaJoy Johnson-Law.
Perhaps the biggest task coming up for you all is the work on the Graduation Requirements Revisions.
I look forward to seeing a robust engagement plan, how is this going to proceed? Is the advisory committee for the Grad Profile the same, who is on it, will teachers, parents and others be represented how were they selected, are the meetings open?
I served on the Advisory Committee for the last revision of the grad standards. We wrestled a lot with which subjects might benefit from a competency-based approach which decouples the Carnegie unit and time from course completion, and for which subjects it would represent a narrowing of exposure. We struggled with how to ensure that students would not unknowingly be closing out opportunities by their course choices to post-secondary schools they might aspire to by their junior or senior year. We tried to assess the quality of internships and alternative experiences and how to measure that quality. As we tried one option on, we often discovered some unintended ramifications that needed to be addressed. I hope some of the work and recommendations from that group can be revisited with more information now.
The Grad record work has been very well received. So, I was surprised to see a draft of possible graduation requirements presented at your November working session so soon. I feel it was premature and left out a larger community wrestling with what is necessary in a base academic foundation? Why were Math, Science and Social Studies expanded to 4 years in earlier years? It also seemed to define the discussion going forward as how to be for, against or amend these before we had been part of more of the preliminary work.
The graduation requirements drive school budgets and staffing. What will transferring the course work of electives to dual enrollment or internships out of the school mean at some schools. Implementation has to be part of the discussion of any changes.
We absolutely have to examine and seek to solve for lack of engagement, and limited success after high school. It should not come at the expense though of a strong academic foundation for all students. How can we prevent tracking by school – can all students have the option for 4 years of math or science? That is not what has happened with World language.
For the process to have integrity, there has to be the trust that the decisions are not already made. I look forward to working with you on this and on all of the issues you will confront in 2025. Thank you