February 8, 2008: Graduation Requirements Raised

[Guest guest]

Schools nationwide raising graduation requirements.

U.S. News & World Report (2/7, ) reported " that all public high

schools in " Maine are now " requiring seniors to complete a college

application to graduate. " Similarly, " many high schools across the country

are making students complete similar -- and often more time-consuming --

extracurricular projects in order to get their diploma. " But while the

" tasks are intended to boost the teenagers' learning experiences,...they

also raise the question of how much work students can handle. " Further, some

education consultants are concerned that such requirements " make it harder

for students to distinguish themselves from their peers, " and students

complain that they take " time away from studying for classes and Advanced

Placement tests. " U.S. News noted that " there's also evidence that asking

more of high school students can produce positive results. " One study found

that a " mandatory work-study program " in Denver, Colorado gave " students

more focus and a can-do attitude. " Also, a Maine school that piloted the

application requirement had 30 percent more students planning on college

than the state as a whole.

In the Classroom

Texting impacts students' writing.

California's Daily Democrat (2/7, Cazares) reported that, according to

education experts, " the abbreviated language used in text messages or

instant messengers " is increasingly " influencing the way children are

writing in school. " Because any " type of writing, despite the context,

stimulates the cognitive parts of the brain and helps students to write more

and be more creative, " Hamilton of the UC School of Education

said that text speak " is a needed outlet,...especially with many classrooms

not providing students with enough opportunities to write. " However, many

" teachers are seeing " a variety of " negative impacts on their students'

writing, " such as abbreviations and incorrect capitalizations. One teacher

noted texting's " effect on [students'] sentence length, eliminating some

problems of run-ons but increasing problems with fragments or simple

sentences. " But despite " these claims, Hamilton said these problems deal

more with classroom management than text messaging. " Hamilton described it

as " a discipline issue, " saying the students " don't realize it's time to

write formally. "

Indianapolis to cluster students who have been held back.

The Indianapolis Star (2/7, Gammill) reported, " Indianapolis Public Schools

(IPS) will target its toughest academic cases next year: the more than 1,400

students who have been held back at least twice before eighth grade. " These

students, who " make up more than 4 percent of the district's...students, "

will begin being assigned " to separate classes at four sites for fifth-

through seventh-graders and to more locations for struggling younger

students. " Assistant Superintendent Li-Yen said the program was

aimed at starting earlier to reduce dropouts. " The students in the program

will be assigned to one school and will attend that school no matter where

their family moves within the district. " The program will include

" teacher trained to work with struggling students and will have more

staff to support them, including aides, therapists and counselors. " IPS also

hopes that clustering the students " will eliminate the shame of, for

example, 13-year-old fifth-graders by moving them into a school with

students their own age. " However, the Star notes that " [t]hose schools where

the struggling students are clustered will likely be unable to make adequate

yearly progress under the federal No Child Left Behind Act. "

Wyoming school rewards students with jobs.

Wyoming's Star-Tribune (2/7, Santos) reported that in Bar Nunn, Wyo.,

" sixth-graders apply for jobs around their school as a reward for good

behavior, such as consistently turning in homework and avoiding trips to the

office. " The " tudents work as classroom helpers, custodians and lunchroom

workers to earn the school's form of money, Bobcat Bucks, " which is used for

class trips. In order to participate, " tudents fill out job applications,

including references, interview with potential employers, " and must maintain

good behavior and " good work habits. " The Star-Tribune noted that " Bar Nunn

revised its discipline process last year and part of that included this

program. " As part of that process, " [t]eachers frequently reward good

behavior instead of focusing on punishment for bad behavior. " School

officials say that " office referrals for sixth-graders have steadily

decreased since the program started, " and that " [w]orking in the school and

with younger students creates a sense of ownership. "

Study links girls' friends with math interests.

The UPI (2/8) reports that " the achievement's of a girl's high school

friends affects her interest in mathematics, " according to a study by the

University of Texas at Austin, the University of Pennsylvania and Michigan

State University. The study, which " questioned 6,547 high-school girls and

boys who had a variety of relationships with peers and tracked the math

courses they took, " found that " high school girls, more than boys, look to

their close friends when they make decisions such as whether to take math

courses and what math classes to take. " While both genders " took more

higher-level math than other teenagers " if their " peers...made good grades, "

the correlation " between those relationships and the math classes was

stronger for girls than for boys. " The study appears in the journal Child

Development.