Schools to increase rigors?

High school students could end up on a college-prep track unless their parents opt them out.

That's under an idea to make high school more rigorous — particularly, the sometimes lazy senior year — that's being discussed by the State Office of Education, the Governor's Office and a handful of school district superintendents.

Discussions are just starting. But the concept, which comes on the heels of the National Governors Association summit on high schools, could come to the State Board of Education in May, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Patti Harrington said.

"I think it's a great idea," Harrington said in a Friday interview. "It still gives, in my opinion, children ample opportunities for electives . . . and perpetuates the board's work on Performance Plus, on the rigor at the high school (level)."

High school graduation requirements, better preparing students for college or the workforce, whether a high school diploma means much — all this has been discussed by Utah policymakers, businesses and parents over the past decade. They also were among topics at the National Governors Association's premiere National Education Summit on High Schools last month.

The State Board of Education is working on competency-based education, a reform movement backed by the outspoken Employers Education Coalition and solidified by law two years ago. Its "Performance Plus" plan would give students credit based on what they know — their competency in a subject — instead of seat time. It sets higher standards, and helps students who can't quite reach them.

But the plan has sat on hold because of money, Harrington said. While lawmakers have helped fund a $30 million reading program for kindergartners through third-graders, they declined a $16 million request for an elementary math program, and $6 million for remedial help for students failing the Utah Basic Skills Competency Test, required for standard high school diploma.

Yet having high school freshmen opt into — or out of — a college-prep path could address Performance Plus goals without a big price tag.

"This would add a dimension to Performance Plus . . . to the notion of, can the high school experience be more rigorous with some up-front planning and commitment on the part of the student and the parent, which I think is a good idea," Jordan Superintendent Barry Newbold said.

Preliminarily concepts would have parents and students meet with school officials about the child's future — like the current Student Education Occupation Plan meeting.