LAWRENCE: LHS ready for new graduation requirements

By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
Aiming to equip students with the skills they will need to compete in the 21st century, the state Department of Education is moving forward with plans to revise minimum high school graduation requirements.
    The state Board of Education approved a proposal for the revised high school graduation requirements last month — but the Lawrence Township School District already has implemented many of the state’s recommendations.
    The proposal, adopted Feb. 18, allows the revised requirements to be posted in the New Jersey Register. The public has 60 days to comment on the revisions. Final approval by the state Board of Education could occur as early as June. The new requirements will be phased in for freshmen over the next four years.
    The DOE’s revised requirements call for every high school student to take four years of English and three years of mathematics — including algebra I and geometry, and a third year of math “that builds upon algebra I and geometry,” according to a press release from the department.
    All students would be required to take three years of science, beginning with a laboratory biology course for freshmen. Sophomores would choose from among chemistry, physics or environmental science. The third-year science course is described as “an additional lab/inquiry-based science,” the press release said.
    Students would have to take three years of social studies, “including histories and integrated civics, economics, geography and global content,” the press release said. There is a separate requirement for a half-year course in economics.
    The requirements approved by the state Board of Education are based on recommendations made by the New Jersey High School Redesign Steering Committee, which released its report in April 2008. The committee is a coalition of the state’s major education organizations, which focused on building awareness and support for a more rigorous high school experience.
    But in Lawrence, Assistant Superintendent of Schools Crystal Lovell said many of the state’s proposed requirements are already in place at Lawrence High School — the result of recommendations contained in the LHS Task Force and Design Team’s report, which also was released in April 2008.
    The school district created its own high school task force in October 2006, around the same time the state’s high school redesign team was formed. The LHS task force included students, staff, administrators and community members.
    As a result of the LHS task force recommendations, Dr. Lovell said, LHS students already must take four years of English and three years of math — including algebra I and geometry. She pointed out that Lawrence Middle School eighth-graders take algebra. It is offered in ninth grade to students who did not pass it as eighth-graders, she said.
    Although the proposed state requirements do not stipulate algebra II, Dr. Lovell said, the district’s plan is to encourage students to take it to meet the requirement for a third year of mathematics.
    All science courses offered at LHS include a laboratory period, Dr. Lovell said. Freshmen take biology and sophomores take chemistry. Juniors take physics or another lab science, she said, adding that “we prefer for students to take all three sciences — biology, chemistry and physics.”
    “All freshmen will have had a pretty rigorous biology course, so they will be ready for chemistry,” Dr. Lovell said. “We like to provide a support system for them. We provide them with individual attention. We want them to shoot for the highest level curriculum. We surround them with support so they will be successful.”
    Dr. Lovell said the district also meets the proposed social studies requirement. LHS students must take two years of United States history and one year of world history. The freshman world history course meets the “global content” standard because it covers civics, economics and governments of foreign countries, she said.
    A separate economics course, however, is not required at LHS now, Dr. Lovell said. It will become an elective course next year, but it will become mandatory in the 2010-11 school year, she said.
    Perhaps the biggest proposed change is the introduction of the Alternative High School Assessment. Although details regarding the AHSA have not been worked out, it would replace the Special Review Assessment.
    The SRA is given to high school students who do not pass the High School Proficiency Assessment. The HSPA, which is given to 11th graders, is required for graduation.
    “Our administration is not shocked by the changes,” Dr. Lovell said. “We saw it coming three years ago. We are progressing and moving along. We will still feel the impact, but we were not caught off-guard like many of our colleagues in other high schools.
    “We are going to continue with our plan to give students the academic support to reach that higher (academic) bar that we have already set,” she said.