M-DCPS had 21,354 graduates in the 2022-2023 academic year. Ninety two percent of students achieved a standard diploma (24 credits). Some students opted for an international curriculum pathway, with 846 (4%) attaining an Advanced International Certificate of Education (AICE) diploma, and 436 (2%) obtaining an International Baccalaureate (IB)…

In four years of high school education some students do not achieve the appropriate number of credits to receive a diploma. To support over-age, under-credited students, each high school has to intervene. Schools need to find ways to help students receive the credits needed, allow students to go beyond four years to graduate, or drop out of high…

Online credit recovery (OCR) courses are the most common means through which students retake courses required for high school graduation. Yet a growing body of research has raised concerns regarding student learning in these courses, with low quality assessments posited as one contributing factor. To address this concern, we reviewed every…

Engrossed House Bill 1121, signed into law during the 2021 Legislative session and codified in RCW 28A.230.320, provides the State Board of Education (SBE) the authority to establish an emergency waiver program to allow school districts and local educational agencies (LEAs) to waive certain high school graduation requirements on an individual…

Purpose: There is little known about the state of teacher education programs in this field. The aim of this article is to provide a descriptive analysis of physical education and health education teacher education programs in the United States. Method: Using published curriculums, a census of active undergraduate teacher education programs and a…

For students entering Grade 9 in the 2014-15 school year and later, Texas modified its public high school graduation requirements by enacting House Bill 5 (HB 5) during the 83rd Texas Legislature. These changes provided students with greater flexibility in the courses required for graduation (including eliminating Algebra II as a required course)…

Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) SCORE Academy is an alternative learning high school composed of two distinct programs. SCORE Academy Re-engagement (A) serves students who are 16 to 21 years old and need to earn between one and 10 credits toward graduation. SCORE Academy Reassignment (B) serves students who have been reassigned by the…

The skilled trades have long been ignored and under-valued in society. This article explores the potential problem with maintaining the status quo and the impacts it will have on future generations. It considers the steps educational institutions and leaders can make in addressing the skilled trades shortage and how changes to the current…

The North Dakota Department of Public Instruction (NDDPI) is committed to providing guidance and support for high school faculty, staff, and administrators to ensure clear pathways to graduation. Many high school students face challenges in accrual and recovery of credit towards graduation. Class offerings, credit calculation, and course…

As directed by SSB 5249 (Chapter 144, Laws of 2021), the state's Mastery-based Learning (MBL) Work Group developed a Washington State Profile of a Graduate describing the cross disciplinary skills a student should have developed by the time they graduate high school. The Legislature charged the State Board of Education (SBE) with reviewing the…

Virtual education has been touted as a potential solution for reaching students who might be considered lost to the traditional education system or who have reached their last educational alternative. Online learning and virtual schools are a new phenomenon and are growing at ever increasing rates. Despite this growth, limited research has been…

Students who attend alternative high schools are considered at risk of not graduating. To graduate from high school, students need to obtain the appropriate number of credits. In this study, factors related to the attainment of credit by students in an alternative school during 2015-2019 were examined. Five factors had an effect on the number of…

During the spring of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forever changed the lives of Americans. Being an educator, I experienced the school shutdowns of March 2020 and felt the impacts on our educational system on a personal level. More students than ever failed courses needed to be promoted and to graduate high school. This led to more students at my…

[Miami-Dade County Public Schools] M-DCPS had 22,447 graduates in the 2016-2017 academic year. Most students, 94%, achieved a standard diploma (24 credits). Some students choose an alternative curriculum where 333 (1%) achieved an Advanced International Certificate of Education (AICE) diploma and 404 (2%) achieved an International Baccalaureate…

In 37 states, an accepted computer science course may qualify or "flex" as a high school graduation requirement in lieu of a traditional requirement, such as mathematics. Applying a first- and second-order barriers framework (i.e., tangible impediments and personal beliefs), we examined views of 60 high school administrators. The…