Photo by Sara Holthouse
District Superintendent, David O’Rourke, began the BOCES Blue Ribbon Commission Forum on graduation requirements on Monday with an introduction and a brief discussion as to what a blue ribbon panel was.
ASHVILLE — The process to redefine the state’s high school graduation requirements is chugging along with state Education Department officials making the rounds across the state to explain the state’s work.
Two forums were held at BOCES Hewes Center in Ashville on Monday with the focus of looking at recommendations from the state’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Graduation Requirements to give both local educators and members of the public a voice in the changes looking at being made in high school graduation requirements.
A forum for local educators was held Monday morning, followed by one for the public in the afternoon at BOCES, 2615 North Maple Avenue. The forum began with an introduction from District Superintendent, David O’Rourke.
“Someone asked me, ‘What’s a blue ribbon panel?’” O’Rourke said. “I really don’t know the answer to what that is, other than it sounds very official and it’s a group of experts that came together to really evaluate how folks graduate and what we require of students to graduate.”
O’Rourke said the requirements and way students graduate now was designed in 1878, including regents exams. Though there have been small tweaks throughout the years, the system mostly remains the same and O’Rourke said the new state education commissioner came in with the idea of reexamining graduation standards.
Recommendations from the state in regards to graduation standards came out to both the Board of Regents and the public, which led to these forums at BOCES, which are set to give people the opportunity to have a voice as graduation standards are being reexamined. These forums are happening all across the state.
No changes have been made to the graduation requirements yet, and that will only happen when these requirements are adopted by the Board of Regents. The forum’s presentation and discussion was led by John Griesmer, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum Instruction. Griesmer began by discussing the Graduation Measures Initiative Timeline, which began back in November 2019 with information gathering and has continued with multiple steps since then, all the way to November 2024 when everything is set to formally go back to the board.
“With respect to the timeline, I really think our group of leaders is ahead of the game, and poised to really take this feedback and move forward with it,” Griesmer said.
He added that he and some of the superintendents in the room had already begun discussing this subject at meetings back in February. He also talked with RCC members around that time, saying that most everybody in the room at the meeting had seen the 12 recommendations being passed down from the state in one way or another before. Griesmer briefly touched on the focus of choosing from a diverse group of people to be members of the Blue Ribbon Commission, before going into the 12 recommendations.
These recommendations include; the number of diplomas, diploma assessment requirements, performance-based assessments, reorganization of credit requirements, credit requirements, access to career and technical education, options for specific students, requiring teacher preparation programs, requiring professional development plans, and reviewing and revising the New York State learning standards.
These recommendations have been merged together into four proposed transformations; adopt the NYS portrait of a graduate, redefine credits and expand learning experiences, sunset diploma assessment requirements, and move to one diploma.
“So, the rest of the slideshow sets us up with, here’s what we do, here’s what’s proposed … so we see here, the current system portrait of a graduate, we don’t have a statewide portrait of a graduate,” Griesmer said. “Some schools may set one up on their own, but the thought here is can we streamline that expectation across all of New York State.”
The rest of Monday’s forum went through a discussion period, with educators given the ability to put their thoughts and discuss with the state each of the transformations through QR codes included in the slides. This began with the portrait of a graduate, then redefining credits, expanding learning experiences, sunset diploma assessment requirements, multiple means for demonstrating student proficiency, and moving to one diploma type as opposed to the current system of three types of diplomas. Each transformation ended with educators having a ten minute discussion time, followed by entering their thoughts and rating other thoughts.
The forum ended with discussing financial implications and other final thoughts those in attendance might have.
As for what’s next after the forums, from August to October will be a time for ongoing stakeholder engagement and identifying potential budget considerations. In November the full plan will be presented to the Board of Regents, with a roll-out plan including projected timelines, affected regulations, and everything else that goes with it.