What is the minimum standard for a high school graduation?

[Riftaxe]

Some people here know that I come from a family with a background in public education (and I will caveat that with saying I was well compensated for a few years for teaching in my own right), however I never needed that background to point out a bad teacher.

Those of us without a financial interest any longer in education can always reflect back on our experience and immediately think of an instructor we have had that was at best out of his/her depth.

Should there be a demonstrable limitation on what knowledge is needed to graduate from high school?

If it was up to you today to make a minimal requirement for a high school diploma, at what grade level would you set the bar?

My background is engineering, I did not come to humanities until later in life, but at the very minimum I would like students to be able to add/divide/multiply and subtract integers without electronic aids. However mathematics is one of the easiest sciences to quantify.

How should literacy or social sciences be measured, or should they be at all?

[elleng]

1. Yes, of course.

When I graduated, New York State required 'Regents' exams. In college (State school in OH) I was among a minority who had had final exams in h.s. This was the '60s. Surprised me.

[femmocrat]

2. Graduation is not based on grades, but on the number of credits earned.

It varies from state to state. As a former educator, you probably already know this, however. Our district just increased the requirement by a couple of credits. Students are also required to take a certain number of credits in math, science, language arts, social studies and the arts. (I teach elementary, so I'm not up on the exact numbers.)

In our state, they are phasing in a state exam that will be required for graduation (not sure when it kicks in, but soon).

There are already required standardized tests in math, reading and science here.

I don't understand why you had to make remarks about ineffective teachers under the guise of seeking information on graduation requirements.

[Riftaxe]

3. New Hampshire fortunately never

had standardized tests such as the regency. On the other side the disparity between education spending was and probably still is more pronounced based on how we fund our schools.

Ineffective teachers whether as colleagues or students are a fact of life, that no legislation will ever change, and really is not what i wanted to put the emphasis on in my post :(

[Riftaxe]

4. My post is more along the lines

of finding out what people think are the minimal standards that should be required to graduate.

Probably more importantly what knowledge should be demonstrated and how could that demonstration be applied to a wider population then just a student body or a state.

[Riftaxe]

5. Now you have me thinking...

and by no means is this an endorsement of a regional standardized test or testing. But let's take this into "if you could, what would" you put on a standardized test?

It would definitely make the thread more interesting, and hopefully not as inflammatory as it has the potential to be :)

[MichiganVote]

6. I think you are a little behind times as regards teacher effectiveness

NCLB required a thing called "Highly qualified".

Some people never get the hang of memorizing Math facts. Are you prepared to refuse them all a HS diploma? Seems pretty silly to me.

[Riftaxe]

7. It would not be a matter of refusing

It would be more a matter of understanding the process. Now I will never be able to convince a "right sided brain" person of the inherent beauty of calculus (never stops us "left sided brain" people from trying tho :) Mathematics is simplistic enough that it can really only be understood as a process as opposed to memorized facts.

So i guess the question would boil down to, what level of mathematics would you be comfortable giving someone a pass on.

I fear people stating social science requirements will have a bit more of a bear of a time.

[MichiganVote]

14. I don't think anyone should be given a "pass" and I don't think my post

suggested that. Its interesting to me that you should consider Math as a process but then complain of others who have not memorized their facts. Math facts may be intrinsic to the process of performing Math but how one gets the facts is hardly the same as understanding the process of problem solving and has nothing at all to do with Calculus.

And I have not seen anyone do Calculus in this day and age without a calculator.

[MindandSoul]

8. In California at least. . . staying in school is enough.

In fact, students with an IQ below 70, unable to read or write or do any math graduate from high school.

That "no child left behind" really means it. . . unfortunately, it lowers the standard for EVERYONE, and hgih school diploma doesn't mean much anymore!

Many high school graduates need a remedial course in English and in basic math to attend a junior college. In fact, it seems that at least the first year of junior college is spent compensating for the lack of basic knowledge of most high school graduates.

[Peregrine]

9. FL switching to end of course exams

In FL you need 4 credits in math and 4 credits in science (and others in the other things) to graduate. Each of the classes over the next couple years will be introducing EOC exams. If you do not get a 70% on it, you don't get credit regardless of what your grades were. This year the first EOC exam starts with Algebra 1. Boy are they going to be surprised. I'm guessing around a 50% pass. In the science classes it'll be below 40%.

[Riftaxe]

10. There was a movement years ago (well decades now)

to teach applied math, which was a fusion of algebra, trigonometry and geometry as you might encounter it in daily life. It is one of those few things, that i kind of wish had caught on.

[auntsue]

11. In the olden days (the 60's) I was in Catholic School

We could not advance to the next grade until we MASTERED the standards for each grade. A high school diploma meant you had learned the material not just been in the building. In California public schools now the "exit exam" is at 9th grade level in language and 7th grade in math. A 55% is considered a passing grade. That was an F in my school. In my opinion it should be a crime to graduate students that can't balance a check book, calculate how much is 20% off of 250 dollars, double a recipe, read and comprehend the LA Times. Yet it happens all the time,.

[Riftaxe]

12. I am of your generation i suspect

not only did we have to pass a US history class but civics class.

What i am after tonight though, is a consensus (or a discussion) on what a high school graduate today should be knowledgeable in. Obviously these days it's a larger world in some ways, so giving a bit of slack in sciences should mean a wider knowledge in other subjects.

[Riftaxe]

13. Numerical grading is confusing

I was stunned in my first year of college to find out that a 69 was a D not an F :) It was like finding an entire 10 more points to play around in!