High School Students Can Now Graduate Two Years Early.

I can’t believe it…for over two years now I have been asking school districts to consider revamping the educational system for the high school students, asking them to consider following the patterns found in Europe where students can graduate two years early and start preparing for college.

WELL, finally someone somewhere got wise and decided to give this idea a try…however only going in eight states to start with, and Texas is not one of them. And amazingly the eight states that are going to start this program will start in the fall of 2011. The states included are Connecticut, Kentucky, Maine, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont. These same states have also pledged to sign up 10 to 20 schools each for this pilot project. They are reaching out to the district superintendents for their support as well. 

How will this work? Many public high schools in these eight states will introduce a program which will allow 10^th graders to pass a series of tests to get their diploma two years early which will allow them to immediately enroll in a community college. If they fail the series of tests then they can try again at the end of their 11^th and 12^th grade years as well. The tests will cover four subjects; English, Math, Science and History.

Why I am pleased about this program as a teacher and parent is that the students may elect to continue with classes in their junior and senior years but they would be college preparatory classes. Some of the countries who use this type of system are the higher performing nations such as Denmark, England, Finland, France and Singapore.

The truth is that millions of students across the nation are stuck in remedial courses each year and many of them drop out before ever getting a high school degree. In the long run, I am sure that these districts are going to discover that this will pay off because students will want to pass these tests and graduate early.

While nothing is being said about how long it will be before other states join in on this project, nor does it state whether they can join of their own volition for 2011, I encourage all who read this article to contact your state if not already listed and ask them to get involved in this project especially if you have students in school.

This program changes the former plan which students could only graduate once they had accumulated enough credits, now they will graduate based on subject mastery and a “move ahead strategy” depending on their choices.

The states that participate in this pilot project will pick up to five programs of instruction with their tests to be used by the participating high schools. Look at the programs already approved: Advanced Placement, the International Baccalaureate Diploma, ACT’s Quality Core and the international General Certificate of Secondary Education which are programs offered by Cambridge international and a part of Pearson Education.

Write me….let me know what you think!