Major changes for high school grads proposed

Incoming eighth-graders in Seattle public schools would face a radically different high school experience under a new district proposal that's expected to draw massive public debate.

Students might have the option of graduating in three or five years, rather than the standard four. They could earn course credits by showing their proficiency in given topics, in what administrators called a Boy Scout "merit badge" approach -- rather than solely through sitting in class and passing tests. And students might be able to start earning those credits when still in middle school.

The district would upend the standard definition of what high school, which in Seattle public schools begins in the ninth grade, means. Even commonly accepted school standards such as six-period days -- or receiving letter grades on report cards -- might disappear.

And the class of 2006 would also face tougher graduation requirements in English, math and science -- plus a new language requirement.

Public discussions on the proposals, which the Seattle School Board reviewed at a retreat yesterday, are slated to start next month. Simultaneously, the district will be working with teachers to develop formal recommendations.

A final plan would be approved in June under the proposed timetable, with changes starting in the schools in September 2002.

The changes involved would be "major," said June Rimmer, the district's chief academic officer. If done well, Superintendent Joseph Olchefske said, they would provide for a more rigorous education, and would be "the biggest driver of high school transformation we will ever do."

The changes would also require an enormous amount of discussion with teachers as well as the public, and there's already a disconnect between the board discussions and the bargaining table.

The Seattle Education Association, whose contract expires at the end of this month, has asked for a one-year moratorium on any new initiatives, let alone such a dramatic change, saying teachers need time to absorb the reforms and training that have already swept the schools in recent years. The district did not respond to that request in a recent bargaining session, union leaders said.

"For some teachers and some schools, it is not going to viewed as a good thing," Olchefske said, stressing the need to make sure high school staffs take part in planning. The district will also need to show parents and students the reasons behind dismantling "concrete cultural icons," such as a four-year high school and a four-point grade-point-average, he said, and make sure they don't harm students' chances at college admissions.

Under the tougher graduation proposal, students would need to earn an additional credit (what used to be defined as 150 hours in class) apiece in English, math and science -- requiring four credits in English, three credits in math and three in science. They would also need to earn one credit in world languages (foreign language for most students). No language credits are currently required.

None of the school board's ideas are set in stone, but Rimmer gave this example for how a student might earn an alternate language arts credit: The student might need to pass a district exam for the course, plus write five different types of essays, complete a research project and community service, read three books and participate in videotaped book discussions.

It's an approach that's long been accepted in elite private schools, in graduate education, and in public schools in other countries, said Tony Wagner of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, who used the "merit badge" analogy when he spoke to the board yesterday.

"You don't pass a multiple-choice test on the parts of a campfire, you've got to light the fire," he said.

In October, the state authorized school districts to award course credits based on a student's mastery of a subject rather than a required number of classroom hours.

Seattle's ideas would have to be integrated with the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, the high-stakes test that all Washington students will be required to pass in order to graduate by 2008. Both the WASL and Seattle's ideas are driven by the same theories, that schools need to find ways to help every student succeed academically, and that the skills today's students need are far different than in the past.

Individual schools across the United States have adopted the sort of approach Seattle is discussing, Wagner said, but he's unaware of any districts that have done so.

"I admire your courage; I admire your leadership," he said.

Some board members questioned whether the district should, or realistically could, make such wholesale changes so fast.

The district had to scramble earlier this year when administrators realized that large numbers of seniors were not on track to graduate, which was blamed largely on a failure to adequately follow up the last time graduation requirements were substantially changed. In 1997, board members had tightened graduation requirements for the class of 2001.

"If we didn't learn from that, then shame on us," board member Barbara Schaad-Lamphere said.

P-I reporter Rebekah Denn can be reached at 206-448-8190 or rebekahdenn@seattlepi.com

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