A diploma from Poudre School District comes with integrity, rigor, and a reputation of excellence. Proposed revisions to PSD’s graduation requirements aim to ensure that it also comes with personalized options.
Giving students options to pursue their passions gives them more choice in their education and better prepares them for their future goals. The purpose behind increasing the number of electives (which will now be called “additional coursework”) required to graduate from a PSD high school is to give students more flexibility to explore potential career pathways and focus on their interests.
Data from PSD’s Connections survey for students shows that students who feel the most connected to their interests have higher achievement and growth, attend school more, and have lower discipline rates than students who reported low connection to interests at school.
Flexibility and the option for personalization; a simplified structure with specific requirements; equity for all students; and understanding the impact that changes would have on educators were all common themes in the feedback received by an action team tasked with exploring PSD’s graduation requirements. The team has listened to several students, staff, family, and community groups to fine-tune their proposal for new graduation requirements.
Team members presented the newest iteration of revisions to the Board of Education on March 19 (watch the video recording on YouTube). The proposal retains several requirements to earn a PSD diploma, including:
- 40 Language Arts credits
- 30 Mathematics credits
- 30 Science credits
- 10 U.S. History credits
- 10 Fine/Applied Arts credits
- 5 Financial Literacy credits
- 5 Civics credits
The proposal also requires10 credits in World History and five credits in an additional social studies class to fulfill new state curriculum requirements in Social Studies, 10 credits in Wellness (a change from the current 15 credits), and 85 credits in additional coursework (up from the current 65 for electives). Both sets of graduation requirements total 240 credits.
While the proposal would drop the current requirements for five credits in Humanities, five credits in Economics, and 10 credits in World Language & Culture, it recommends that students include among their additional coursework 10-30 credits in World Language, five credits each in Humanities and Economic, 10 credits in Geography, and five credits in Health or Teen Choices.
The action team left room for even more choice, should it be requested – if the number of additional credits were to be increased to 95 credits, the team would suggest five credits each for the Wellness and Fine/Applied Arts requirements.
The PSD Board of Education will vote on revisions in April with changes going into effect starting with the Graduating Class of 2029.