Frazier School District ready for new grad requirements
The Frazier School District plans to be ahead of the curve in connection with new graduation requirements from the state.
The Pennsylvania Department of Education has introduced new graduation requirements for the state’s 501 school districts to guarantee that a diploma reflects the skills and knowledge graduating students need to be successful in college and in the workplace.
The requirements, if adopted by the state, would take effect starting with the class of 2015 and enable school districts to ensure students are meeting the state academic standards.
Kelly M. Lombard, high school principal, said the program of studies would change next year to coincide with the state’s proposal by making courses more career oriented and increasing the number of credits to graduate.
“The courses were added to help prepare and enhance our students for the 21st century,” said Lombard.
The school board approved the changes in February that Lombard said would apply to next year’s class requiring them to have 30 credits instead of the state’s 28 required credits.
Lombard said Frazier’s goal is to have students take two additional core subjects rather than electives.
As part of the changes, Lombard said seniors would complete a career focused graduation project instead of a project in one or more areas of concentrated study.
In addition to being proficient in their core subjects, Lombard said students would also need to understand and develop skills associated with information, media and technology along with life and career.
Lombard said the courses would further enhance the students’ learning and innovation skills such as critical thinking, creativity and communication/collaboration.
To support those skills Lombard said the district created communication technology and advanced technology courses for next year along with advanced art courses that would focus on two- and three-dimensional design.
According to Lombard, juniors are now being required to take a mandatory personal finance course already in existence and sophomores a career skills course that would build on a freshman seminar course with the same component.
With the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) test taking place this spring, Lombard said students enrolled in the Keystone courses of Algebra 1, biology or literature would instead take a new state assessment test.
The Keystone Exams are end of course assignments designed to assess proficiency in various subject areas such as algebra, biology, chemistry, civics and government, English, geometry, literature, U.S. history and world history. Eventually, the state foresees the exam replacing the PSSA in those subjects at the high school level.
The exams, which account for one-third of a student’s grade, fall under the state’s new graduation requirements.
“We’re definitely aligning our courses to the Keystone,” said Lombard. “Even though we’re using the (state’s) guide as a bare minimum we’ve exceeded that.”
The exams would be administered at the end of a course with the intent to eventually replace the PSSA that determines Adequate Yearly Progress under the No Child Left Behind Act.
Lombard said Frazier plans to administer the Keystone exam this spring in Algebra 1, biology and literature with the remainder of course exams phased in over the next five years.
In rare cases, Lombard said some students may have to take the PSSA and the Keystone exam the same year depending on their grade. However, the Education Department noted students could take the exam as early as sixth, seventh or eighth grade for Algebra 1. For now, Lombard said Frazier’s current 10th-grade class would still take the PSSA next year.
Unlike the PSSA, the Keystone Exam is taken immediately following the related course with students able to retake it if they score below proficient.
Students that score below basic on the exam would not receive any points toward their final grade, however, students that score below the proficient level would be able to supplement their score by completing one or more project-based assessments.
Lombard said Frazier’s block schedule could pose problems for students that fail the exam since students only have 15 weeks to learn and score proficient on it. Another obstacle is that tutoring is only available for 30 minutes during an activity period.
“With a full-year course you have more time to learn, digest and practice the material where you learn multiple lessons each day whereas on a traditional schedule you may learn one concept a day, have homework to reinforce it then move on to a new concept,” said Lombard.