Senior slacking in high school faces scrutiny

Taking it easy in one’s senior year of high school might provide a nice break, but governors from at least nine states say it’s also a waste of students’ time and taxpayers’ money.

Those leaders are pushing broad-based initiatives to overhaul students’ final high school years in order to cure the problem of senioritis.

Some, like Texas, are making curricula more stringent. Others propose financial incentives for early graduation.

North Carolina’s prescriptions include Gov. Mike Easley’s Learn and Earn program, as well as tougher graduation requirements.

“North Carolina is correctly involved in high school initiatives to make senior year of high school more meaningful,” said Jane Worsham, executive director of the N.C. State Board of Education.

Easley has pushed hard for Learn and Earn, which allows students to enter a five-year high school program that will earn them the equivalent of an associate’s degree or two years of credit to a four-year college.

Proponents say the plan will make students stay in school and provide them with job training. It also would eliminate time wasted during the junior and senior years of high school and facilitate motivated students’ college careers.

Worsham said it provides a wonderful opportunity for high school students to stay in school for another year and get an associate’s degree.

“There is no reason for kids to get bored,” she said. “There’s a lot to do.”

To aid the effort to make students’ senior years productive, the state also has tightened graduation requirements in English and math. A senior project also will be required starting in 2007.

The required course work will bring more meaning to students’ senior year, Worsham said.

He added that today’s global economy requires more skills and thus places a larger demand on public education, so North Carolina must raise its education standards.

Similar initiatives also have been imposed in Texas, where the state legislature raised the graduation requirement for this year’s ninth-grade class in order to maintain a rigorous curriculum, said Todd Webster, Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s advisor for public education.

The Texas legislature also is looking into an early college high school program like the one in Easley’s Learn and Earn program.

“It provides opportunities for students who want to graduate early,” Webster said. “They get college degrees at the same time when they get high school diplomas.”

But some education organizations have raised concerns about these initiatives.

“It is the priority to give students the best education,” said Vanessa Lillie, spokeswoman for the National Education Association. “We can’t compromise that with the time.”

Lillie added that just raising graduation requirements does not mean success.

“It is important to engage our senior-year students,” she said. “But it is also important to make sure what they are learning is beneficial to their education.

“Research and study are needed to make sure we are in the right direction.”

Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.