School Board To Vote on Proposed Graduation Requirement Changes

The Newark Unified Board of Education will vote Tuesday on whether to approve a resolution that will change Newark Memorial High School’s graduation requirements.

As proposed by the resolution, students must take more years of mathematics and world language and the new graduation requirements would become effective with the class of 2018.

The goal is to align the requirements with courses that need to be passed in order to be considered for admittance to a four-year college.

Known as the A-G requirements, the college admittance criteria asks that students take specific core academic classes for the majority, if not all, of their time at a high school. 

Here are the proposed changes compared with current graduation requirements:

2018 Graduation Requirements

Current Graduation Requirements

English/Language Arts, 40 credits, 4 years

English Language Arts, 40 credits, 4 years

Mathematics, 30 credits, 3 years (4 years recommended)

Mathematics, 20 credits, 2 years

Science, 20 credits, 2 years (3 years recommended)

Science, 20 credits, 2 years

Social Studies, 30 credits, 3 years

Social Studies, 20 credits, 2 years

Physical Education, 20 credits, 2 years

Physical Education, 20 credits, 2 years

Fine Arts, 10 credits, 1 year

Fine Arts/Modern Language, 10 credits, 1 year

World Language, 20 credits, 2 years (3 years recommended)

Fine Arts/Applied/Modern Language, 10 credits, 1 year

State Requirements, 5 years, ½ a year

Electives, 60 credits

Electives, 75 credits

Total 230

Total 230

The discussion of changing the graduation requirements was first brought up during the board’s Feb. 15 meeting. At that time, board members were enthusiastic about the proposal for more rigor but had a few concerns pertaining to costs and implementation.

“I am clearly in favor of this and have always been. My concern only on this is about implementation because this is huge,” Trustee Charlie Mensinger said. “We want to do it right and not necessarily fast.”

Superintendent Dave Marken, however, noted that the implementation would be ongoing.

Click here to download the board meeting agenda. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. at the , 5715 Musick Ave.

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