Proposed Revision to the Graduation Requirements 2025 -
The Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) is engaged in a process to re-imagine high school including compiling a Graduate Profile and revising the Graduation Requirements. This announcement puts an end date of May 30th to receive comments on this draft of the Grad Requirements to OSSE.
OSSE will also hold public feedback sessions to hear directly from community members regarding the District’s high school graduation requirements. If you are interested in participating, please sign-up below. To provide feedback, please complete the following form: OSSE Reimagining High School Graduation Requirements Public Feedback Form.
Public Feedback Session for General Public : Wednesday, May 28, 2025 – 5:30 - 7 p.m. – Register here
The aim of this initiative is to identify and implement new high school graduation requirements that incorporate outcome measures and support innovative approaches to preparing young people for life after graduation. This work is also inclusive of the development of a DC-wide Graduate Profile to establish comprehensive academic, personal, and interpersonal characteristics/competencies for high school students.
Frequently Asked Questions Question 1: Why was this initiative started? Amending the current OSSE High School Graduation Requirements addresses the changing nature of high school and society inclusive of certifications, apprenticeships, internships, micro-credentials, articulation agreements, more relevant coursework, and out of school and after school activities. (Here is the FAQ on the reasons for proposing changes)
Following are my comments. Cathy Reilly
The question is does this draft (changes noted below) address the aim of the initiative? Does it support achieving the characteristics/ competencies identified in the work on the Graduate Profile?
The changes suggested are:
· All students must complete a capstone project
· All students must have three contacts for post-secondary planning instead of one starting in 9th grade.
· Students will have the option to achieve an Endorsement on their diploma (IB, CTE many options)
· Mathematics has added in italics Algebra, Geometry and Algebra 2 or an equivalent integrated math course at a minimum
· The Science requirement will be reduced from 4 credits to 3. The requirement for 3 lab sciences is removed. Biology is required.
· Financial Literacy will be required .5
· Career Preparation (course to be determined) will be required .5
· The Community Service requirement of 100 hours is being replaced by 60 hours of community engagement
Any change to the Graduation Requirements will be voted on by the elected State Board of Education. Robert Henderson from Ward 5 and Eboni Rose Thompson from Ward 7 will head up an SBOE task force to meet this summer to fall. OSSE leadership hopes the Board will vote on revisions before January 2026.
Specific Concerns with Current Draft (It is great to see the continuation of the core subjects, exposure to art and music and requirement for PE retained. Endorsements if well thought out and implemented carefully should be considered.)
Capstone Project- This is a general requirement similar to community service or engagement. It is not aligned to a specific course or teacher. This has been difficult, especially with constricting budgets, to do for all students and to do it well. This has worked in schools and with students that have embraced it. How have full public systems implemented capstone projects? Is it possible that this will be a barrier to graduating and then done in a “get it done” way to enable a student to move on? What is the exact definition from OSSE that signifies fulfillment of the requirement?
Three contacts for post- secondary planning-: How is the quality of this verified? Is there a checklist of what is covered?
Reduction of Science to 3 years: In larger schools with demand for more science, students will be able to take 4 years and more lab science courses. In other schools there will be fewer science teachers or chances to take more courses. Are there ways for this inequity to be addressed within the larger system? What does it mean to not be exposed to any chemistry for example? Will an introductory course with general exposure to chemistry and maybe physics be offered? Can we expand the courses that qualify to fulfill the science requirement? Is the reasoning that the Advanced Technical Center is addressing this? Is that adequate?
Career Preparation: This course is not yet defined as I understand it. What is the rubric? Is this a requirement of the school system for exposure but not a requirement of the student? Should it be required or required to be offered? Who is qualified to teach this? Is it a survey course of all careers? I fear the vision for it may be very different than the implementation of it. Should this be a course on AI, what we need to know, its flaws and how to use it ethically?
Community engagement instead of community service: Are we stepping away from a notion of service because this requirement had no staff or resources assigned to it? What is the message in stepping away from service? Who will administer the engagement if internships etc. are to fulfill this requirement? Currently is this monitored and defined by each LEA? What is the plan moving forward?
Missed Opportunities So Far
Goals of an education: This language adopted by the previous group convened to wrestle with these issues is worth noting especially leading civically engaged lives as part of our purpose. This includes being a citizen of the world and the movement toward global education..
The purpose of the District of Columbia diploma shall be to prepare students to succeed in 21st century jobs of their choice and lead civically engaged lives. Please see below for definitions.
“21st century jobs” – jobs that meet existing needs in the world, as well as jobs that will solve as-yet unidentified problems. These jobs may require post-secondary education and/or specialized training. To be able to succeed in any of these jobs, and to be able to move freely between them, students need effective communication, time management, teamwork, and social-emotional skills. Students also need academic preparation in high school that will allow them to perform well in coursework at two- or four-year post-secondary institutions or workforce programs directly following graduation.
“Civically engaged lives” – graduates pro-actively engage in their communities and have developed the combination of knowledge, skills, values and motivation to want and be able to positively influence the lives of others.
The Graduate Profile does a good job of defining the competencies necessary to achieve a larger definition of education than being college and career ready as students are launched into the adult world.
Has there been a crosswalk between the grad profile, the content standards and the current graduation requirements. How does the proposed draft address the competencies?
Additional reason expressed in considering changes to grad requirements: Too few students graduating still. How can we address the lack of engagement that was present before COVID but has increased. Many students report or demonstrate not being engaged or connected to school and their education.
Indicators are poor attendance, truancy, drop- out rate, Graduation rate 76%, half of public-school graduates enroll in college. 80% of DC high school alumni don’t earn a college degree; including 60% who start. DC students are not in high paying jobs.
Safety, Mental Health, Too few resources: These have been the reasons reported. How are we addressing these barriers in the conversation on reinventing high schools that this is a part of? How are we responding to this moment particularly for newcomer and immigrant students?
What have we learned from the XQ schools and the flexibility and greater student voice that was implemented? Are more students attending?
At the bottom of the draft grad requirements there is the phrase “where applicable course substitutions and competency- based equivalencies apply”
· How is this defined,
· What courses currently are offered on a competency- based assessment
· What is the process for proposing and having a course approved?
· Who makes these decisions and what are they based on?
Course substitutions may address some of the student concerns with courses aligning with interest.
· Are there ways the curriculum in the core subject areas can be better aligned to student needs and interests and careers? Social studies offers many ways to connect with current events or science with the issues facing us in health and climate change. Geometry is necessary for carpentry, algebraic formulas and the logic figure into calculating interest, different financial and real estate decisions. Chemistry is aligned with cooking.
To what extent is the problem with disengagement partly one of what we offer and how we schedule
· We have many small schools that cannot offer a broad choice of electives. Even in large schools many students are placed in electives where there may be room but it is not their choice. This is a significant issue. This should be brainstormed.
· Could DCPS leverage its size and system to expand what is being piloted at Phelps this year. Would it work in culinary, in engineering?
· This process can recommend licensure for part time positions across schools to fill areas of need using what Ellington and some charter schools have learned.
Where is the consideration or roadmap to move forward with assessing competency so students can move forward in World language and in Mathematics, previously recommended? Students may receive credit for a high school math or world language course by demonstrating mastery of the equivalent standards in the course. o To receive credit, students must demonstrate a high level of mastery on an OSSE-approved test or equivalent assessment in math and by achieving an OSSE-approved designation on a world language assessment. o These assessments must be offered in testing conditions on published dates by DCPS and each DC public charter school (PCS) under the supervision of OSSE before the start of each semester and when there are two weeks remaining in the semester. · These credits count toward the 24.0 required Carnegie Units. https://sboe.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/sboe/page_content/attachments/Final%20Recommendations%20HS%20Graduation%20Requirements%20Task%20Force.pdf
Additional Thoughts: I hope OSSE and the Board will consider piloting and a longer runway if necessary for some recommendations. A move toward flexibility as is noted in with course substitutions and competency- based credit is welcome but will require great care to be implemented well.
DCPS has a long history of transorming and redesigning its high schools. At times this was part of a larger education plan and others it focused solely on the high schools. Some examples are the Renassiance schools, the Blue Ribbon Project on High School Reform, the Ed Compact and the last Education Master plan.
Currently, DCPS has partnered with XQ. While the plan is for each DCPS high school to have the opportunity and support to design itself, currently there are 8 schools in the pipeline. Anacostia and Ballou immediately preceeded the XQ partnership. Dunbar and Cardozo were in the first cohort, and for 2023-2024, CHEC, Ron Brown, Woodson and Coolidge have joined. They will have an additional staff person budgeted and other support to implement the plans they have been working on.