Graduation standards changing

By NATE HUBBARD/Staff

Wythe County educators pleaded for more latitude last week regarding new graduation standards to be adopted for the 2009-10 school year, pending approval from the Virginia Board of Education.
The local school officials and other Southwest Virginia residents gathered in the auditorium of George Wythe High School on Thursday night for a public hearing on proposed changes to the state’s Standards of Accreditation.
Under the proposed new standards, which are set to be voted on in January, high schools will have to achieve an 80 average on a new graduation rate scoring system – in addition to continuing to meet Standards of Learning testing benchmarks – in order to be fully accredited.
The scoring system will award schools 100 points for diploma graduates, but only 75 points for students who receive a GED.
Students who don’t graduate in four years but remain enrolled and in pursuit of a degree would count as 70 points.
Melinda Robinette, Wythe County’s director of special education, said the fact that a GED is worth less than the required 80 average means that schools will be penalized for any GED graduates.
“A negative rate is by default assigned to a GED,” she said.
But Robinette said that the best option for certain students is in fact a GED.
“These proposed standards will actually promote discrimination,” she said.
LaDonna Meade, Wythe County’s director of instruction, followed Robinette to the podium and also implored the state to reconsider the scoring system.
She said educators should be trusted to know when a student would be best served by pursuing a GED.
“In today’s society, as we all know, one size doesn’t fit all,” Meade said. “In rare cases the GED is the best option.”
Other speakers at Thursday’s event, though, said they thought the 80 standard was too low and that GEDs should count for even less.
“I ask that you be open to raising the 80-point rate,” said Buckey Boone of the Southwest Virginia Legal Aid Society.
Two other significant changes to school operations also will be on the table at the Board of Education’s upcoming meeting.
If the new requirements are passed, all middle schools will have to create individualized academic and career plans for their seventh- and eighth-grade students. The plans, which can be tweaked during the students’ high school careers, are used to help students select their courses and diploma tracks.
Students also are likely to have new diploma options as the Board of Education is considering creating standard and advanced technical diplomas for students enrolled in career and technical education courses.
No one at Thursday’s public hearing in Wytheville spoke on the middle school career plan proposal.
The diploma requirements, on the other hand, drew plenty of feedback.
Most of the comments focused on a proposal to make a personal finance or economics course mandatory for an advanced studies degree and one of two options along with fine arts to fulfill an advanced technical diploma requirement.
Speakers applauded the proposed addition of financial education requirements, but called for them to be applied to all students, not just those seeking advanced degrees.
“This course should not be an elective,” said Wayne Adkins of the Virginia Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy.
Today is the deadline for the public to submit comments to the state on all the proposed changes. Comments can be e-mailed to .
Olympia Meola of the Richmond Times-Dispatch contributed to this report.
Nate Hubbard can be reached at 228-6611 or .