Tougher Graduation Requirements

In 1983 the secretary of education under President Reagan released a report entitled, “A Nation at Risk.” A famous line from that report conjectured that if a foreign nation had imposed upon us this mediocre system of schooling, the U.S. would consider it an act of war. At that time, the major threat was the Soviet Union on the security front and Japan on the economic front. Japanese companies had surged in the late seventies in technology and manufacturing. Calling for raising academic standards, A Nation at Risk became the genesis of the standards-based movement that emerged in the early 1990’s and has made the No Child Left Behind legislation possible. Every state but Iowa has established state standards and has a state testing system. In addition to raising academic standards, the report also called for strengthening the graduation requirements in core topic areas: language arts, math, and science.

Two decades later, terrorism has replaced the Soviet Union as the primary security threat and globalization, particularly outsourcing and the “China Price,” have replaced Japan as the primary economic threat. The solution remains the same. The Wall Street Journal reported today on a stiffening of high school graduation requirements across several states. A major proponent of this movement is Achieve, Inc., a business-backed educational policy nonprofit. Board members include the likes of former IBM CEO Lou Gerstner and former Intel CEO Craig Barret.

While A Nation at Risk spurred a strengthening of at least rudimentary graduation requirements in math and science, the article highlights efforts in a number of states seeking to increase the number of math and science courses needed for graduation. The goal is to move beyond rudimentary requirements to requiring all students to successfully complete a college prep sequence of math and science. According to Becoming Adult a study by Csikszentmihalyi and Schneider, the most important factor influencing whether a high school student attends a four-year college is successful completion of high-level math and science courses. Requiring students to take higher-level math and science courses will maximize opportunities for graduating high school students.

However, the article cites that such moves will increase the cost of doing business. In many cases it will require hiring more math and science teachers at a time when qualified math and science teachers are already in high demand. In addition, to accommodate more science courses will require constructing more lab-equipped classrooms. Texas estimates it will cost $200 million to equip enough classrooms to accommodate an increase of 200,000 students taking additional science courses.

Toshmo, R. (2005, March 29). “Diploma bar is getting higher at many U.S. high schools,” Wall Street Journal, B1, B4.