PHOENIX — Arizona high school students are another step closer to tougher graduation requirements.
Without dissent, the state Board of Education gave preliminary approval Monday to mandating an additional year of math and a half-year of economics to graduation requirements for the class of 2012. Now, only two math credits are required — algebra and geometry — with no specific mandate for any economics courses.
The half-credit of economics will bring required social studies-type classes to three years.
Students in the class of 2013 — this year's seventh-graders — will need yet another year of math to graduate. And beginning with that group, that extra year will need to be a second year of algebra or some equivalent.
They also will need a third year of science above the two currently required.
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But board members, who still need to give final approval after two public hearings, agreed to a bit of flexibility.
First, they decided that if a course is broad enough, it actually could count for two requirements. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne said that might include a math course with a significant economics component.
"It can be economics. It could be career technical education that involves some math. It could be arts courses," he said. "Music students make great math students, because there's a lot of math involved."
Horne said one major benefit of a course that meets two requirements would be to leave more time for electives, which are being trimmed to make room for the new mandatory courses.
Second, students and their parents could petition to avoid the Algebra II requirement by asking for a "personal curriculum" that would instead allow the youngster to take some other course geared to whatever that student plans to do after high school.
What provoked the most discussion Monday was a new requirement for all school districts to offer all students what has been termed a "regents diploma." This would call for every course required to graduate under the new standards plus two years of a foreign language, and the fourth year of math would have to be in an area with Algebra II as a requirement.
The list is supposed to represent what it takes to be admitted to one of the state's three public universities.
Board member Jesse Ary worried about creating first- and second-class diplomas. But board President Karen Nicodemus said it shouldn't be seen that way.
She said one purpose behind the regents diploma would be to send a clear message to students that this group of courses is what they need if they want to go to a university. And Nicodemus, who is president of Cochise College, said it also represents the standard the board believes is appropriate.
"The regents diploma most reflects what we said is the right thing to do," she said. "We talked about world languages being important when we talk about competing in a global economy."
Nicodemus, however, said the diploma presents a "dilemma," because earning it doesn't guarantee a high school graduate admission into college.
The additional requirements just to get a regular diploma came with some cautions.
Coconino County School Superintendent Cecilia Owen said special schools deal with the one out of every six teens who drop out but now are trying for a second chance.
"These students are not interested in coming back for four years," she said, and will not be willing to stay additional time to pick up new math and science courses. "We'll lose them."
Nicodemus acknowledged the problem but said the board still needs to set a proper standard for "rigor" in what it takes to get a diploma.
Correction
Students in the class of 2013 -- the year that four years of math and three of science will be required to graduate -- are currently in the seventh grade. An earlier version of the story had the correct year of the effective date of the measure given preliminary approval Monday by the state Board of Education but simply the wrong reference to where those students are now.
