The Wake County school board may vote today on keeping tougher than state-mandated high school graduation requirements for the 2011-12 school year.
The board will vote on a recommendation from staff to continue requiring students to pass the Algebra I, Biology and English I state end-of-course exams to graduate from high school.
The board had taken a similar step in December following the staff recommendation to leave in place the requirement for the 2010-11 school year.
In a largely symbolic vote, the Wake County school board is expected to approve today leaving in place the now-defunct state policy that was meant to curb social promotion.
As noted in today's article, interim Superintendent Donna Hargens is asking the board to leave on the books the requirements that students pass state exams to be promoted and to graduate from high school. It won't have a practical change because kids will still largely be promoted even if they fail by appealing to the principal through a waiver process.
"We started the 10-11 school year with parents and students expecting that they'd be held accountable for being proficient," Hargens told school board members last month. "That's what's in their heads. That's what teachers have told them. That's what principals have told them."
UPDATE
The board voted 6-1 to keep the old state promotion and graduation guidelines for this school year.
Interim Supt. Donna Hargens said they can revisit whether to keep it for future years.
Board member Deborah Prickett was the lone dissenter, saying they should match state policy. She pointed to the same reason used by the state Board of Education how the guidelines were time consuming and didn't help students.
