Given the above, it was good to see that the Los Angeles Unified School District board of education hung tough and brooked opposition to its plan to require all high school graduates starting with the freshman class of 2012 (!) to take the 15-class sequence required for entry to CSU. But if that requirement is to make a difference for children who are now in first grade, those classes will have to be far more demanding than they are now. The Daily Breeze notes that most LAUSD students taking those classes now still have to take remedial classes when they reach college. This increase in graduation requirements has been going on for 20 years and in the last year has accelerated all across the country. A bill on Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich’s desk would require a third year of math for graduation, for example. But the point remains. If these requirements are to mean anything, they have to lead to a change in what students are learning, not just in what classes they’re taking. And for a change in learning, there has to be a change in teaching and lots of support to go along with the demands.
–Guestblogger RLC