Goshen school board mulls reducing number of credits needed to graduate
May 11—GOSHEN — Goshen school board members are considering a proposal to reduce the total number of credits needed for Goshen High School students to graduate.
The current minimum of 43 credits might be reduced to the state-mandated minimum of 40 credits.
Barry Younghans, principal of GHS, talked about the proposal at the board's Monday meeting.
Younghans said he feels reducing the credits from 43 to 40 would be a major benefit to those students struggling to earn enough credits to graduate, while not hindering those who have no issues earning the minimum amount.
Younghans said, "The extra three credits come from elective areas. I am proposing that GHS require only 40 credits as well. The rationale for this change is fairly simple. Students who are struggling to graduate need to focus on mandatory classes and not electives. Adding three additional elective credits to students who are struggling is not meeting their needs."
Steven Hope, superintendent of Goshen Community Schools, noted that adding additional credits to graduation minimums became fairly common during the late 1980s and early 1990s, as at the time it was thought that more credits equaled a greater level of educational rigor.
"Most of our students earn well over 40 credits as they have those opportunities throughout high school. That won't change," Hope told the board. "What we do want to change is just making our bar 40, as that is the bar for every other high school in Indiana, and the bar that Indiana has set for us. So, for our students who do struggle, or who do have a hard time getting to 40, at least that will be the same as it is for every other school."
Younghans also noted that he does not feel reducing the high school's credit minimum to 40 will negatively impact the ability of students to experience elective areas of study outside of the typical core curriculum.
"I am not concerned about students having enough opportunities to experience elective areas because the state requires several of those classes within the mandatory 40 credits," Younghans said. "Additionally, all students entering GHS as freshmen can earn up to 56 credits without summer school or any credits transferring from GJHS. Students who are not struggling have multiple options to experience a wide variety of course offerings.
"The bottom line is, when we have those kids that are struggling, we'd like to be able to graduate them rather than have to say, 'No, you've got to come back for summer school and finish two classes that are probably elective classes anyway,'" Younghans added of the issue. "Our kids that are struggling, they're not struggling in art class, primarily. They're struggling in English class, or in math class. We've got to get them those classes. So, what (the current policy) does is, it ties the hands of the kids who have the most need. So, we would just like to put that back down to 40."
As Younghans' proposal was just a discussion item, no formal action on the proposal was taken during the meeting.
However, should the board ultimately decide to move ahead with the credit reduction at a future meeting, Younghans said his hope would be to implement the new policy beginning with the class of 2022.
OTHER ACTION
In other action, board members:
—Learned that Goshen Community Schools will be receiving approximately $3.4 million of the $13.2 billion in CARES Act funding allotted to the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, or ESSER, for the purpose of addressing the impact that COVID-19 has had, and continues to have, on elementary and secondary schools across the nation.
John Kline can be reached at john.kline@goshennews.com or 574-533-2151, ext. 240315. Follow John on Twitter @jkline_TGN.
