GREENWICH — Greenwich Public Schools’ new graduation policy will increase the number of credits needed to graduate, require students to demonstrate mastery in various subjects and add new pathways to a diploma for the class of 2023 and subsequent graduates.
School board members made one change to the policy this week before passing it with a unanimous vote. They specified that students must be notified of the graduation policy in December of their eighth grade year.
All students attending Greenwich High School and Greenwich eighth-graders will continue under existing graduation requirements. The new requirements will take effect for the current seventh-graders.
The policy requires students to complete 25 credits, up from 22. Students will also have to show that they have achieved “mastery” in English, math, social studies, science, arts, foreign language and health and physical education. School administrators will set indicators of what “mastery” is in each subject.
In addition, students will also complete a capstone portfolio over their four years at Greenwich High that shows they have acquired 13 skills — such as posing substantive questions and conducting themselves responsibly — outlined in the district’s Vision of the Graduate.
The policy says students will have many pathways toward accomplishing these requirements. If students wish, they can create a “Personalized Learning Plan” that describes how internships, independent studies, online classes or technical education fulfill the requirements.
BOE member Jennifer Dayton called the new policy’s multiple pathways “absolutely fantastic.” After the vote on graduation requirements, school board members directed the administration to research a career and technical education “pathway” for students, perhaps by partnering with local technical high schools.
While the policy states that students will “have satisfactorily passed any examinations and satisfactorily demonstrated the district’s performance standards, assessed in part by the statewide mastery examinations,” the policy does not articulate what scores students will need to achieve on state standardized tests, as past policies did.
Proficiency scores, established by Greenwich High faculty and approved by the Board of Education, will be part of the policy regulations — a separate document describing how the policy is implemented — and the high school Course of Study Guide, said Kim Eves, director of Communications for Greenwich Public Schools.
emunson@greenwichtime.com; Twitter: @emiliemunson