The Willow Glen Resident

Board votes in rigorous new graduation requirements

This fall's freshmen will take three years of math and science, do community service

By Rebecca Wallace

The rigor of a student's high school course load can often be gauged by the weight of his textbook-filled backpack.

By that logic, the freshmen entering San Jose Unified School District high schools this fall will have built up some strong arm muscles by the time they graduate in 2002.

The San Jose Unified school board voted unanimously Feb. 5 to dramatically increase high school graduation requirements starting this fall. This includes adding an extra year each of math and science, two years of foreign language and 40 hours of community service.

Under this new plan, all district high school graduates will now be eligible to apply for state colleges. District superintendent Linda Murray says they'll be better prepared for college and the workplace.

Previously, students could graduate from any district high school with 225 units and two years of math, two years of science and no foreign language. But some universities require that applicants have 240 units, including three years each of math and science and two years of foreign language. The new standards require 240 units for graduation.

"I have full confidence that we'll be able to do this," said board president Richard Garcia. He said he had spoken with employees of high-tech companies such as IBM, who said there was a tremendous need for young people with stronger math and science backgrounds.

"They're out there waiting for our students," Garcia said of potential employers in the valley.

Some educators and parents had expressed concern that the new standards could be too strenuous for some students and could thereby increase failure and dropout rates.

Ready for the naysayers, the district had preceded its meeting with an impassioned presentation by speaker Kati Haycock, who put forth a barrage of slides and statistics backing up her assertion that all students can succeed if they are held to high standards.

"Nobody to this day has ever convinced me that kids are born dumb," said district grandparent Sofia Mendoza at the meeting. "Learn--that's all they know how to do."

The plan also features a support system for struggling students, including an extensive summer school program and annual notices to parents about their children's academic status.

Administrators and teachers are also studying ways to begin rigorous high school preparation in the lower grades, which could include beefing up the reading, foreign language and math programs in elementary and middle schools.

Most speakers vehemently backed the plan, including Deputy Superintendent Sonia Hernandez from the state department of education. She promised that the state office would be a "good partner" with the district as it implemented the new requirements.

But Pioneer High School parent Wayne Beavers said that students at Pioneer already take 240 units, and the new plan would leave no room for failing a class other than making it up in a condensed summer school program.

Although she voted to put the new standards in place, Carol Myers, vice president of the board, had a few qualms about the plan. Some students "don't have the maturity" to study a foreign language for two years, and advanced math classes such as intermediate algebra might be too much of a challenge for some, she said.

"We're layering too much, too fast," she said. "This is a very ambitious endeavor, and we should be cautious."

The increased requirements will necessitate more teachers, books and classrooms; some administrators say it could all cost about $1,764,000.

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