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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