Board set to lift bar on classes

Students, beginning with this year's seventh-graders, will have to take one more year of English, math and science in order to graduate — a move designed to boost Utah's relatively low academic standards, but one that some say equals the kiss of death to many arts and music programs.

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."

The state now requires three years of language arts, two years of math at least to the level of geometry and applied math II, and two years of science, plus 2.5 credits of social studies; 1.5 in the arts; two of P.E./health, and others. School districts have to offer at least 24 credits.

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."