Royal Valley board approves updated graduation requirements
New graduation requirements were approved for the Class of 2028 and beyond at Royal Valley following action Monday evening by the board of education.
The state has approved new graduation requirements, which Cassie Geis, RVHS principal, outlined during the board meeting.
Instead of four credits of English classes, the state board is requiring 3.5 credits of English and .5 credit of a communication class, such as speech, debate, forensics or drama.
Students will also be required to have one credit of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math), which they can earn by taking a variety of classes already offered at RVHS, like computer science, animation or an advanced math or science class.
“What is advanced for one student and what is advanced for another student may mean two different things and that is fine,” Geis said. “For some students, taking physics will be an advanced class and for others it’ll be chemistry.”
In addition to the new credit requirements, the state board of education wants high school students to have two or more post-secondary “assets” completed prior to graduation.
Some of the items considered as an asset by KSDE include an apprenticeship, 40 or more hours of community service, industry-recognized certification (such as through Washburn Tech), an ACT composite score of 21 or higher, nine or more college hours, state assessment scores of three or four for math, ELA or science, Eagle Scout or Gold Scout designation, 4-H Key Award, participating in two or more high school athletics or activities, 90 percent attendance in high school and a senior exit interview/senior project.
“KSDE is still working through this list and adding new things,” she said.
Geis said she’s been talking with administrators and staff about the best ways to track students’ progress with their post-secondary assets.
For more on this and other stories, please log in to your holtonrecorder.net account and select “March 27, 2024” under “E-Editions.”
