
DATE: Saturday, September 13, 1997          TAG: 9709130348

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY KIA MORGAN ALLEN, STAFF WRITER   

DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                        LENGTH:  104 lines

PORTSMOUTH RAISES THE BAR FOR GRADS STUDENTS IN THE CLASS OF 2003 MUST EARN A C AVERAGE TO RECEIVE A DIPLOMA

City students may face greater challenges now that the State Board of Education has blessed the school district's plan to raise the minimum grade point average for graduation and other academic standards.

By 1999, students entering the ninth grade in Portsmouth will need a 2.0 average, the equivalent of a C, at the end of their senior year to receive a diploma.

The requirement will be raised gradually over the next two years, beginning with freshmen entering ninth grade this fall. Those students will need a 1.3 average, the equivalent of a D-plus, to graduate. Students starting high school next fall will need a 1.6 average.

And this year's freshmen won't be eligible for a general diploma, which had been given to graduating students regardless of their grades. Instead, they can either seek an advanced studies diploma, designed for college-bound students, or the slightly less challenging regular diploma.

In addition, Portsmouth students for the first time are required to select one of five career clusters: business and marketing, engineering and technology, visual and performing arts, health and human services, or global and international studies. The cluster classes would provide students with specific skills to prepare them for college, technical school, an apprenticeship or to enter the job market.

The plan, the first of its kind in the region, was endorsed last week by the Board of Education.

Chase Mizelle, a ninth-grader at Churchland High School, thinks the changes are good as long as students remain on top of their game.

``You have to stay straight and pass your classes,'' Mizelle, 14, said Friday. ``I've always pretty much done what I'm supposed to do.''

Erika Boyd, another ninth-grader, likes the new standards but said it will mean more work. ``Now,'' the 14-year-old said, ``I'll be tired because I gotta study all the time and have to do more. But in the end, it helps you.''

The new standards were developed last school year by Superintendent Richard D. Trumble in an attempt to tighten academic standards and help lackluster students.

The Portsmouth School Board approved the standards in March by a 7-1 vote. Board member David Joyner voted against the plan, citing concerns for remedial students.

The decision placed Portsmouth at the forefront of statewide efforts to improve academic achievement because Virginia doesn't require students to earn a minimum GPA to graduate.

But Portsmouth couldn't proceed with its plan without the Board of Education's approval. The board cleared the way Sept. 4 when it said individual school districts could have academic plans that differ from the state's if their local board approved the measures before June 30, 1997. The Board of Education is expected to give its final approval during a meeting next month.

``We are real pleased that the state board approved the plan,'' Trumble said. ``The School Board and myself worked hard to put together a plan that would raise the educational achievement of our students.''

Joyner said he now supports the new standards.

``I'm happy with it (the decision). I might as well be, because the School Board voted almost unanimously for it, and I think what we have is good,'' Joyner said.

Students at Wilson and I.C. Norcom high schools must earn 24 credits for a regular diploma and 26 for advanced studies. Churchland High School students must have 26 for a regular diploma and 28 for an advanced one. Churchland's figures are still a couple of notches above the state's standard requirement of 21 for a regular diploma and 23 for advanced, as well as the requirements at Wilson and Norcom, because students there started block scheduling a year earlier than students at the other schools.

Because of block scheduling, students can take more courses in a year and ultimately earn more credits.

``The whole idea is to get kids thinking about what they want to do . . . thinking what their needs will be if the they decide to go to college,'' said Raymond A. Hale, Churchland High School principal. ``They need to think down the road instead of wandering around high school.''

Students in all clusters would also be required to pass Algebra I to receive a diploma, a new state requirement. Diploma-seeking students would need to score at or above a pre-determined level on a forthcoming statewide, standardized exam for 11th-graders.

Students who fail to meet the diploma requirements, or those academically unable to do so, would not be eligible for a diploma. But they could receive one of two certificates that would indicate they are chronologically at the end of high school but haven't mastered the skills needed to graduate.

The ``certificate of completion'' would be for students who met grade requirements but failed either to pass the state-mandated Literacy Passport Test or failed to score at or above the prescribed level on the forthcoming standardized exam for juniors.

A ``certificate of attendance'' would simply acknowledge the time a student had spent in high school. ILLUSTRATION: BETH BERGMAN/The Virginian-Pilot

Chase Mizelle, a ninth-grader at Churchland High School, thinks the

changes in the graduation requirements are good as long as students

remain on top of their game. ``You have to stay straight and pass

your classes,'' the 14-year-old said Friday.

Graphic

Portsmouth's New Standards for High School Students

Types of diploma

Career clusters

Minimum grade

The certificate track

Other requirements