THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 21, 1995 TAG: 9507210522
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines
To beef up academic offerings and make the city's high school graduates more attractive to employers, School Superintendent Roy D. Nichols Jr. is recommending elimination of the general diploma.
The city would be the first in South Hampton Roads to drop the diploma, which has come under mounting criticism in recent years as allowing students to take watered-down courses that don't prepare them for college or work.
``We feel strongly that doing this will put our school system in a much better competitive stance with other school systems and other nations,'' Nichols told the School Board Thursday. ``I think we've been underestimating our kids, saying they aren't capable, but they are.''
The general diploma allows students to take only the minimum courses now required by the state for graduation.
The School Board has, in the past, generally supported the idea.
A committee appointed by Nichols studied the issue for more than a year. In a report released Thursday, the committee recommended that the general diploma be eliminated by the year 2000. That means students who are entering eighth grade this fall would be the first class affected.
``They will have a long time to plan for this and will understand what they are up against,'' said committee member Pamela C. Kloeppel, senior coordinator for guidance. ``We desperately believe this is necessary because every year 50 percent of our students graduate with a general diploma. We don't feel they're prepared for the world.''
Dropping the diploma could have a broad effect, particularly on minority students, who this year made up 63 percent of the seniors who received a general diploma. In the school system overall, 61 percent of the students are African American.
It also would remove a safety net for college-prep students, who now can fall back on a general diploma if they fail to meet the requirements for an advanced studies diploma in their senior year.
Special education students also would have fewer options to earn a diploma.
Nichols said that the school system probably would have to offer more summer school classes for students who need to pass a course and that it may take longer for some students to graduate.
Under the proposal, students could earn diplomas in advanced studies, a tech-prep program that combines academics with technology, and vocational studies.
In addition, the committee recommended tougher academic requirements. Students shooting for an advanced studies diploma, the traditional college-prep track, would have to take a third year of foreign language and an essay-writing class.
Besides that, every student would have to pass algebra to graduate, no longer being able to slide by on ``consumer'' math. In the class of 1993, for instance, 36 percent of the seniors graduated without taking algebra.
Last month, the state Board of Education adopted new Standards of Learning in math that will require students in all school districts to take at least one algebra course.
School Board members, who have discussed the idea in the past, said they leaned toward eliminating the general diploma but said they would move cautiously.
``What we're trying to do is to improve the level of education,'' Vice Chairman Robert F. Williams said. ``It would better prepare students for the life choices they have to make. A diploma would have much more meaning.'' ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
THE PROPOSAL
The general diploma would be eliminated by 2000. Students
entering eighth grade this fall would be the first affected.
Students could earn diplomas in advanced studies, a tech-prep
program that combines academics with technology, and vocational
studies.
Academic requirements would be tougher. Students shooting for an
advanced studies diploma, the college-prep track, would take a third
year of foreign language and an essay-writing class. Every student
would have to pass algebra - not just ``consumer'' math.
by CNB