This short work week this week for students and teachers gives way for the Thanksgiving holiday. In a time where our economy is far from booming, the weather is turning cold, and the financial times for schools, families, and businesses are hard we still have much to give thanks for. I personally wish you and your family a happy Thanksgiving and hope that this holiday truly gives us a chance to enjoy the company of family and friends but also appreciate what we do have.
Much of my time in recent weeks has been on something called Senior Year Plus. This new legislation went in effect on November 1st, 2009 and is related to all dual credit courses that upperclassman take while still in high school. Though I'm not sure the legislation will actually do what it is intended to do it is designed to provide dual credit access to a more wide population of Iowa students while raising the bar for dual credit entrance requirements. In the past, dual credit courses were available to all upperclassman who were advised, interested, and willing to meet the challenge of a college course while still in high school. Now, the legislation requires high school students to be "proficient" in reading, math, and science prior to enrolling in any dual credit course.
Though the intentions of this new legislation is good, I truly question its merit. I have witnessed many students who do not score well on tests and may have trouble proving proficiency on a test so that they would be able to enroll in a dual credit course. For other students, they truly are not proficient in reading, math, and science but have done well in dual credit courses when they completed the required high school courses and were allowed to take dual credit college courses that they had a niche for like automotive courses or industrial technology offerings.
The new Senior Year Plus legislation gives local school boards the liberty to approve "locally established but equivalent criteria for proficiency" rather than sole proficiency on the ITED reading, math, and science tests. I take the responsibility of creating and taking to the board a very well-thought-out set of equal criteria to our school board in December so that most students are not limited in taking dual credit courses in high school. Furthermore, I believe our nearby county schools and conference schools should have similar criteria in my opinion. I will be meeting with local high school and conference principals this week to develop this locally established but equivalent criteria to take to the board for approval in the near future. Please stay posted for details and actual approval for this criteria. Below is my pre-meeting thoughts that I will present to other principals for consideration.
Download Senior Year Plus Guide
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