In two years, Washington high school students will be required to earn 24 credits before they can graduate. That’s two more credits than the classes of 2017 and 2018, today’s seniors and juniors, will need. Twenty-four is also the exact number of credits that students at Mount Si School can earn right now, assuming they don’t fail any classes.
“There’s going to be no flexibility in their schedules,” said Snoqualmie Valley School District Assistant Superintendent Jeff Hogan.
Through his leadership of the High School Schedule Advisory Committee that formed last March, Hogan is looking at ways to restore some of that flexibility by adding to the number of credits students can earn.
“We feel it’s imperative to have something in place by the time (this year’s freshmen and sophomores) are seniors,” he said. “With the current schedule, if our students don’t miss a class or don’t fail a class, absolutely they can graduate on time, but we’re worried that it’s going to affect our dropout rate if there’s not an opportunity to earn more than 24 credits.”
Mount Si High School’s on-time graduation rate is only about 90 percent, Hogan noted, which means that in the average class of 350 students, about 35 of them are not likely to graduate — “and that’s at the 22 credit requirement.”
If Mount Si doesn’t offer students more credits, then once the Core 24 requirement takes effect, “If you fail one class, you won’t graduate from high school,” Hogan said. “Right now, you can fail two classes and still graduate.”
In the half-dozen meetings that the committee has held so far, the group has discussed alternative schedules, including adding variations on a six-period day, variations on a seven-period day, five-period days with classes scheduled by trimesters, and eight-period days with classes offered in two-period blocks, alternating by semester or alternating by day.
Along with credits, the committee is also looking at hours of instruction per credit, which at Mount Si, is a ratio of about 165 hours of classroom instruction to a credit. Other models the committee is looking at use a ratio of 20 to 30 hours less per credit.
“State law allows the local district to define a credit,” said Hogan.
Any schedule change is also being considered for its potential impact on teacher planning time and professional development.
The initial goals of the committee were to leave the start and end times for the school day, as well as the early-release Friday schedule unchanged.
The committee was also charged with preserving the freshman campus concept, maintaining an advisory program, and considering cost in its recommendations.
Although the committee meets twice a month in its discussion on changing the high school schedule and is expected to make a recommendation this winter, a change to the high school schedule is not inevitable.
“It could be that we try to stick with this model and come up with another way to let students make up those credits., Hogan said.
The committee will give a presentation on its work at the next meeting of the Snoqualmie Valley School Board, 6:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 27, at Snoqualmie City Hall.
Learn more at www.svsd410.org.
