photo by: Journal-World

Lawrence Public Schools district offices pictured in April 2021.

Lawrence schools leaders will soon consider changing the district’s high school graduation requirements to meet new statewide standards, which, among other things, emphasize career and college preparation and change how math and science credits are handled.

According to the agenda materials for the board’s meeting on Monday, the Kansas State Department of Education in 2022 approved a new set of graduation requirements for Kansas high school seniors that will go into effect with the class of 2028. It’s the first major change to the state’s graduation standards in nearly two decades, and while it doesn’t change the number of credits that Kansas students must take to graduate, it does change how those credits are divided up.

For instance, students are currently required to take four units of English language arts classes to graduate; the new requirements call for 3.5 units of English language arts and half a unit of another kind of communications course, such as speech, debate, forensics or journalism.

One new requirement under the KSDE standards is that students must take at least one unit of a STEM elective in addition to the three units of math and three units of science that are currently required. The elective could be a more advanced math or science course, a computer science course, or even advanced career and technical education. Another change has to do with the other electives that are required; they’re now called “Employability and Life Skills” classes and are supposed to relate to the student’s future career or educational goals, and at least half a unit in that category must be a financial literacy course.

The state also is requiring students to complete two or more items from a list of “postsecondary assets” — things like community service hours, workplace learning, college classes, senior projects or achieving a certain score on the ACT or state assessments.

Like the statewide standards, the Lawrence school district’s proposal would begin with the class of 2028, but it looks a bit different than the statewide minimum requirements. It requires 24 units of credit, three more than the minimum set by KSDE and one more than the district’s current minimum requirements, and some of the elective requirements are different. Here’s the proposal that the school board will be considering on Monday:

• Four units of communications, 3.5 of which must be in English language arts.

• Four units of society and humanities; three must be in social studies, and the other must be in fine arts.

• Seven units of science, technology, engineering and mathematics — three each in math and science, and one in a STEM elective.

• Nine units of employability and life skills. This must include half a unit each of physical education, health, financial planning, and career/post-secondary planning.

• Two postsecondary assets.

• Completion of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA.

Also on Monday, the board will receive a final report on its “Portrait of a Graduate” public input sessions. The sessions were conducted last fall and asked participants about the characteristics that make an ideal high school graduate. As the Journal-World reported, much of the feedback focused on soft skills such as problem-solving, leadership, teamwork and communication.

The school board meets at 6 p.m. Monday at the district offices, 110 McDonald Drive, and the meeting will also be streamed on the district’s YouTube channel.