BAR 6146.1 High School Graduation Requirements

Background Information:

The policy committee reviewed AR 6146.1 High School Graduation Requirements on March 4, 2019. It is presented here for board review. Included is an AP district summary with comparable groups report. The committee requests further direction from the board.

AR 6146.1 High School Graduation Requirements

The following policy has been reviewed by the instructional team, innovation committee, principals, and other stakeholders. In an effort to bring instructional policies up to date with changes in instructional trends & practices and to address some of the goals set out in the new KPBSD five-year strategic plan, we are recommending the following changes as outlined.

At their May 7 meeting, the committee forwarded BP 6146.1 High School Graduation Requirements to a work session. The AR was returned to the committee for further review.

The Policy Committee again discussed this AR on June 4, 2018 and was not able to reach a consensus and was forwarded to the Aug. 6, 2018 work session. The board requested additional information from the administration:

1. Which AP classes are currently offered, and at which schools?

2. Explore the viability of developing a Middle College within KPBSD

The following AP classes are regularly offered at our five large high schools:

The district administration has also explored the viability of developing a Middle College within KPBSD. A Middle College program would be developed in partnership with the University of Alaska, and the most successful Middle College program in the state of Alaska is in the Mat-Su school district.  The Mat-Su program is the model the university would like to replicate in other school districts around the state, and has begun to develop a program in the Anchorage school district.  At this time, the district administration does not feel as though KPBSD has the ability to replicate the existing Mat-Su, and developing Anchorage, Middle College programs, primarily due to a limited population density of students. 

Mat-Su’s Middle College program is a separate, stand-alone school, as defined by AK DEED, and the school draws its students from all the other high schools in the district.  Mat-Su is successful because they have a large student population to draw from, and all of their high schools are in close proximity to each other.  In order to be successful, such a program in KPBSD would have to be located at KPC in Soldotna, as that is where most of the high school population exists, that also has a UA remote campus.  However, even located there, there are many questions about the ability to draw enough students away from both Soldotna and Kenai Central High Schools in order to populate the school.  Likewise, any students outside the central peninsula would not be afforded the opportunity to participate, as transportation would not be reasonable.

In addition to the logistical concerns about developing a Middle College program, there are certainly budget concerns, which are even more pronounced at this time.

The district administration is continuing to work with the university and KPC to explore the viability of other options or ways to offer Middle College type opportunities to our students, regardless of geographic location within our school district.  However, current budget issues facing both the school district and the UA system has limited those conversations at this time.

After continuing to discuss this policy with all of the high school principals and other stakeholders, the school district administration recommends a continued look at approving AR 6146.1 High School Graduation Requirements.