“What’s the real number of credits needed to graduate?” |
| What’s the real number of credits needed to graduate? Posted: 25 Sep 2010 03:15 PM PDT For two weeks, she wore a button pinned to her blouse that said only "24." Brenda Hales, state associate superintendent, said it stood for the number of credits needed for a student to graduate from high school in Utah. "I'm doing a little promotion around the State Office [of Education] and superintendents to remind everyone we require 24 credits for graduation," Hales said. "I just want to make sure parents who have kids in Utah schools realize we have rigorous and relevant graduation requirements." The concept seems clear enough, but recently it's been anything but. Democratic gubernatorial candidate and Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon's education plan aims to raise the number of core credits required to graduate, stating, "Utah's required academic load of 18 core credits for high school graduation is among the nation's lowest." The statement follows erroneous reports by two other prominent organizations that Utah only requires 15 credits to graduate from high school. The number 18 does not include six required credits in elective courses. But Rep. Sheryl Allen, Corroon's running mate, said the exact number of required credits isn't the issue. Corroon is concerned that so many Utah students require remediation in college, among other challenges, and wants to make sure they are prepared for the jobs of the future, Allen said. "Let's not anybody get stuck in the rut of what is the correct terminology, what really is the base starting point," Allen said. "It's where we need to go." Corroon's education plan also claims that, by comparison, "Arizona requires 22 core credits, New Mexico requires 24, and Texas requires 26." Story continues below But those states' numbers include required electives whereas the 18 number in Utah does not. Also, Arizona and New Mexico only started requiring those credits for the Class of 2013. Taking electives into account, Utah actually requires more credits to graduate this school year than Arizona and New Mexico. Allen, however, again said that's not the issue. "I have a lot of compassion for the fact that they don't think it's fair but let's get off that," Allen said. "Was it interpreted correctly? Was it not? Were comparisons apples to apples or apples to pears? All those things are important but not visionary, and we want to be visionary." Christine Kearl, education director for Corroon's opponent Gov. Gary Herbert, said Utah ranks highly when it comes to the number of credits required to graduate: 24. A recent Education Week report stated the nationwide average was 20.8 credits last school year. "When someone in a position of candidate for governor goes out and says things about education that are not accurate, that hurts economic development," said Don Olsen, Herbert's campaign spokesman. "The people who are looking to move here look at our education and if they believe that we are somehow below the national standard ... that doesn't help us." This isn't the first time someone has used the number 18 instead of 24. The lines in Corroon's education plan claiming Utah's academic load of 18 core credits is among the nation's lowest and giving numbers for other states reference a 2009 Salt Lake Tribune article that attributed similar statements to Canyons School District Superintendent David Doty as he talked about creating differentiated diplomas for Canyons students. Doty, however, said this week he stands by his earlier statements. It comes down to how one defines "core" credits versus other credits. Next Page »This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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