District administration continues graduation requirement dialogue with public

PALMER — The Mat-Su Borough School District administration continues to provide opportunities for members of the public and those involved with local schools to provide input on the proposed changes to graduation requirements that began last fall.

MSBSD Superintendent Dr. Randy Trani and Assistant Superintendents of Instruction Dr. Justin Ainsworth and Reese Everett hosted two virtual forums this week, discussing the proposed changes and taking questions from the public on Wednesday and Thursday.

Trani noted that the process for presenting changes began last November with school leadership staff and has continued with listening tours to area high schools and continued meetings with school leadership and to groups organized by the Mat-Su Education Association. MSBSD administration will visit Houston and Su Valley next week and Valley middle schools in April and May.

“One of the drivers of this is that we are funded as a school district to provide 13 full years of education not some portion of that and so to give you an example our graduating seniors last year averaged 21.3 credits, except they had an opportunity to take 28 credits and that’s because we’ve built paths around school for our high school kids. They opt out of going to school but we’re funded to put them through 13 complete years of school not 12.1 yrs so we’re trying to make sure that they take advantage of this free and appropriate public education we want expectations to rise for all kids,” said Trani.

The proposed graduation requirements have significantly changed since their original introduction. MSBSD is also considering a measure to reduce the amount of credits required for graduation for the upcoming class of 2022 next spring as a result of academic difficulty during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The current iteration of the proposed graduation requirements would increase one half credit and also require students to pass an Advanced Placement seminar course or the International Baccalaureate equivalent. The proposed changes would allow for four distinct diploma pathways with one for fine arts, one for career and technical education, a math and science based diploma and one based on social studies and language. If passed by the MSBSD school board in May, the changes would apply to the incoming class of freshmen set to graduate in 2025.

“We can be better as adults at helping our students be better when they leave us after 13 years. One of the spots we can look to know that we need to improve that we need to get better as educators is when we look at ht remediation rate that our students who go to the University of Alaska system, 60 percent of the kids from Mat-Su who go to the University of Alaska system need remediation in math and english, like that number is too high. We need to do better and one of the ways we’re going to do better is by providing more supports to them and higher expectations,” said Trani.

Everett provided reasoning for the added requirement of AP seminar. The rigorous course is designed to allow students to develop skills in research and academic writing as well as establishing collaboration and communication with classmates.

“It’s a class that will serve as or can serve as a springboard for students as they look to enter other types of advanced course work because it’s really foundational skills in research and writing that will help them. It in and of itself is very rigorous, but also we’ll have the support necessary to help those students as they move onto different courses that are also rigorous,” said Everett.

Ainsworth provided input on the new course called credit, community, career and college. Ainsworth said that the course was a response to the “academic carnage” caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Ainsworth said that three specific goals of the course are to support unfinished learning and gaps created by the pandemic, respond to difficulty for students and to prepare students to plan for postsecondary education. Middle school students would also be required to take the course with their focus centered on preparing students for the rigors of high school curriculum.

“Really that’s supporting our students so they leave our system and they leave our schools, and Dr. Trani alluded to this, with a clear plan that gives them the foundation to seamlessly transition whether it’s work, the military, technical school or college,” said Ainsworth.

With four distinct diploma paths, Ainsworth said that students would not be penalized for switching pathways and would also be permitted to pursue more than one simultaneously.

“There is built in flexibility for a student to develop their own focus area or there’s enough flexibility for students to change their mind,” said Ainsworth.

Students would not be required to attend postsecondary education institutions upon graduation, but must apply for postsecondary opportunities. Everett said that the Alaska Performance Scholarship was used as a framework to develop the additional graduation requirements, but not all MSBSD students would be required to qualify for the APS to graduate. Additionally, Ainsworth said that the district hoped to remove any financial barriers to education and will continue to pay for Valley students to take AP, IB and other tests. The school board will meet next on April 7.