Class of 2028 will have new graduation requirements
May 9—Changes in Abilene High School graduation requirements will take effect for the class of 2028. However, the number of necessary credits will remain at 26.5, which is higher than the state's minimum of 21.
Assistant Superintendent Dana Sprinkle said the changes were precipitated by adjustments to the requirements made by the State Board of Education. The changes will not require new staff or materials, she said.
The changes are in Communications and Wellness course requirements and students will need to complete at least two postsecondary assets before they can earn their diploma.
Communications
In communications, a half credit of speech was added. Allowable courses include speech, debate, forensics, or college speech.
Abilene High School already offers debate, forensics, and a dual-credit college speech. However, those are not required classes, Sprinkle said.
"As we met with our (English Language Arts) team at the high school along with Dr. (Ben) Smith (AHS principal) and Mr. (Will) Burton (AHS assistant principal), we had communication around whether we should embed that speech credit into one of our current year-long English courses or not," Sprinkle said. "As we reviewed the content that already needs to be covered during the year-long courses ... we just really felt like embedding that speech component into that for a whole semester would take away some of the content that is currently included that we need to cover based on our state standards."
The better option was to add it to the requirements. To balance the extra half-credit without increasing the 26.5-credit requirement, electives have dropped from nine and a half to nine.
Wellness
In the Wellness classes, requirements are changing from one credit of freshman physical education/health and a half credit of physical education to a half credit each of freshman physical education, freshman health, and physical education.
Those changes are based more on how those courses are recorded on student transcripts versus how they are presented, Sprinkle said.
Freshmen already had one physical education class with a curriculum that covered what the state requires for two half-credit courses.
"Abilene already has an additional credit for physical education that students can take additional PE courses like lifetime fitness or a weightlifting class in high school," she said. "There was debate on whether we should just reduce it to one credit, like the state recommendations included, or if we should keep that at one and a half. After discussion, and thinking about long-term wellness and healthy choices for the future, we decided to recommend sticking with the one-and-a-half credits so we could continue to encourage students to be active and have that component as a part of their life Instead of just doing that for their freshmen year."
Also under Wellness, the current half-credit requirement for Career and Lifetime Finance is changing to a half-credit of Financial Literacy.
The name change won't affect what the school has taught as a required course for several years.
Postsecondary assets
The postsecondary assets are something new, which this year's eighth graders will need to complete before they walk across the stage in four years.
"The postsecondary assets are really an opportunity for students to demonstrate a variety of skills or academics that show they are prepared for that post-secondary world," Sprinkle said. "It's really recognizing the things that students already participate in that are ensuring that all students have these assets. Many of our students already would meet these criteria that are listed in our recommendations. But we want to encourage all students to participate or demonstrate this academic in a way that acknowledges the hard work they are doing."
The Postsecondary Assets fall under the categories of Career and Real-World, and Academic.
The asset list will likely evolve. Sprinkle said the district will review the list and bring it to the board of education for approval on an annual basis.
Career and real-world postsecondary assets are:
— 40 or more verified community service hours
— Workplace learning experience related to student's individual plan of study
— Industry-recognized certification from the KSDE-approved list
— Completion of the CEO program with a C or higher
— Seal of Biliteracy
— Eagle Scout or Gold Scout
— 4-H Kansas Key Award
— Two or more completed athletic seasons
— Two or more completed school activities
— 90% or better cumulative high school attendance
Proposed academic postsecondary assets are:
— ACT composite score of 21 or higher
— WorkKeys silver level or higher
— Nine or more college hours
— State assessment level 3 or higher in ELA, math, or science
— Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test per requirements of selected military branch
— Completing Board of Regents curriculum
