One Northeast Ohio school district is graduating students at a higher rate this year largely due to a change in state law for the Class of 2018.
Ninety-three percent of Akron City Schools’ seniors are expected to graduate this year, up from an estimated 54 percent who were on track to graduate at the beginning of the school year.
The drastic increase over a short period comes from the alternative graduation pathways Ohio lawmakers approved last summer after the Department of Education reported in 2016 a third of the Class of 2018 wouldn’t meet more rigorous requirements that should have taken effect for the cohort.
This year’s seniors could graduate by completing 21 credits and scoring well on end of course exams, like future classes will have to, but with the law change, was also given the option to fulfill two requirements on a list of nine possibilities.
Those alternative options include having a 93 percent attendance rate, at least a 2.5 GPA, or completing 120 hours of community service.
Chad Aldis with the research group the Thomas B. Fordham Institute has spoken out against the change, saying the list includes options that are less rigorous and do students a disservice.
“Test scores aren’t everything, but to the extent that they’re a good indicator that a student is reading well and able to do math at a high enough level,” Aldis said in an interview earlier this month, “we need to make sure students have the skills they need to be successful when they leave high school.”
Members of the Ohio Board of Education have considered requesting lawmakers extend the alternative pathways given to the Class of 2018 to the classes of 2019 and 2020, but in a board meeting earlier this month, Senate Education Chair Peggy Lehner reportedly said the General Assemblyhas no current plans to consider extending the options.
