New graduation requirements coming to Kansas high schools; life skills credit falls short

This year’s crop of Kansas eighth-graders will need to take a few different classes than their older peers in order to graduate once they start high school next year.

After more than a year of discussions, the Kansas State Board of Education approved a new set of graduation requirements that students will need to meet before being granted a diploma.

The change to the state graduation requirements, effective starting with the class of 2027, is the first in about 20 years, when the Kansas State Board of Education last voted to add a unit of fine arts education.

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Crucially, the new set of requirements maintains that unit of fine arts education, which had been put on the chopping block in a graduation task force’s preliminary set of recommendations late last spring.

Music and art teachers around the state had lobbied against the removal, which they argued would undermine the subject and lead to fewer students engaging in critical, artistic thought.

What the new Kansas high school graduation requirements contain

The state board’s new minimum graduation requirements will remain at 21 units, although the composition of those units will change slightly.

Virtually 100% of the state’s local school boards already require more than the minimum. But the state minimum is particularly important for students in the foster care and juvenile justice systems, since state law allows them to meet the lower standard and still receive a diploma, given the highly transitory nature of their education.

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Instead of requiring at least 4 units of English language arts, students will only have to receive 3.5 units, in addition to at least half a unit in a communications class, such as speech, debate or journalism.

Students will still be required to earn at least 3 units in social studies, including history and government, and 1 unit in fine arts.

In addition to maintaining 3 units of math and 3 units of science, students will also have to take at least 1 unit of a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math elective, which can include computer science, advanced math and science, robotics, technology and agriculture.

Previously, a whole unit of physical education was required, but that is now split into 0.5 units of P.E. and 0.5 units of health. Additionally, the state board is now requiring students to take at least 0.5 units of a financial literacy class, in addition to 4.5 units of electives, according to a student’s individual career track.

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Students will also be required to receive at least two post-secondary assets — defined as skills, knowledge and experience outside of classroom credits — in order to graduate. Those could include such experiences as 4H or scouting participation, sufficient scores on such exams as the ACT or youth apprenticeships.

Technically, all students will also be required to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid — a request that was made by the Kansas Board of Regents. But students, families and even schools will have the option to individually opt out students from the requirement.

What the new Kansas high school graduation requirements won’t contain

Initially, the state board had been set to vote on a 22-unit set of requirements that would have also required an additional unit of a life skills class.

But that requirement — which the graduation task force had recommended at the urging of students — fell off the list Thursday afternoon after board member Ann Mah, D-Topeka, questioned the demand for the class category and what it would entail.

Although members of the graduation task force had envisioned a class that could be tailored at the district level to teach about various skills — such as changing a tire, setting a table or applying for a job — the Kansas State Department of Education does not currently set standards for life skills.

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“Let’s say we worked on this (over) the next year, and we developed the life skills standards that we thought every kid ought to have to graduate, then we could add it on for the class of 2025,” Mah said. “But frankly, life skills are different all across the state, so mandating something we can’t even define, at the last minute, makes it seem a little irresponsible.”

Outgoing member Ben Jones, R-Sterling, pointed out that returning next year and again changing the graduation requirements could put an undue burden on high schools and counselors, since that would in essence create a two-year period in which different classes of students at a high school would need to work toward three different sets of graduation requirements.

Education commissioner Randy Watson cautioned that even one change is monumental, since throughout his 41-year career, Kansas graduation requirements have only changed twice — once after the landmark “A Nation at Risk” report in 1983, and again in the early 2000s to add the fine arts requirement.

Board chair Jim Porter, R-Fredonia, though, said at least with the life skills requirement, schools will have a year’s notice that another change is likely coming. Additionally, the state board’s action on Thursday created a new committee — to include parents, teachers and administrators from around the state — to evaluate the success of the new graduation requirements and propose any further tweaks, additions or subtractions.

Rafael Garcia is an education reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached at rgarcia@cjonline.com or by phone at ‪785-289-5325. Follow him on Twitter at @byRafaelGarcia.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas high school graduation requirements are new for class of 2027