Board set to lift bar on classes
An additional year of English, math, science
The Utah Board of Education preliminarily voted Friday to require four years of English and three years each of math and science. Some school districts already make their students take that many classes, so the effects of the change would vary.
Similar proposals have come and gone. But things changed last month, when lawmakers threatened to require students to take four years of all three subjects. Legislators backed off to let the board raise the bar on its own.
The move also is in line with one recommendation from Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s group examining high school rigor.
But the board's work has just begun. Which classes will qualify for credit in those subjects will be the subject of a study and public comment between now and May. Final approval of the plan is expected in June.
The changes would begin with the class of 2011.
"We need rigor, and also to look at how to improve the classes we have to meet the needs of students," board member Mark Cluff said. "I want our students to be in high-paying jobs and technical jobs. . . . I don't want to see our students at McDonald's and Wal-Mart."
But policymakers — this year, Reps. Brad Daw, R-Orem, and John Dougall, R-American Fork — and business leaders have complained that's not enough rigor. Utah's requirements are below national averages in all but social studies and P.E., and three credit requirements above averages in electives, according to a report from the Education Commission of the States, distributed to the board Friday.
State superintendents had unsuccessfully proposed more core-class requirements in the late 1990s and in 2002. In 2003, it came from Gov. Mike Leavitt's "competency-based education" push in the form of "Performance Plus."
The board Friday, however, voted on first reading — there will be two more chances for refinement — to change board rules to boost the requirements under threat of Dougall and Daw's legislation. It gave students an out in math: They can take it for three years or complete intermediate algebra, the class typically taken between geometry and college algebra. The board is confident accelerated students passing the requirement as sophomores would continue their math studies.
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