613-Graduation Requirements

Rationale	Date Approved/Revised
The purpose of this policy is to set forth requirements for graduation from the school district	4/22/08 Revised: 7/20/10 Revised: 3/27/12 Revised: 9/25/12 Revised: 7/23/13 Revised: 11/26/13 Revised: 5/26/15 Revised: 6/28/16 Revised: 8/22/17 Revised: 3/26/19 Revised: 5/21/19 Revised: 12/17/19 Revised: 6/21/22 Revised: 11/15/22 Revised: 8/22/23

1)      Statement of Policy

The policy of the school district is that all students entering grade 8 must demonstrate, as determined by the school district, their satisfactory completion of the credit requirements and their understanding of academic standards. The school district must adopt graduation requirements that meet or exceed state graduation General requirements established in law or rule.

2)  Definitions

A.   “Required standard” means: (1) a statewide adopted expectation for student learning in the content areas of language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, physical education, and the arts, and (2) a locally adopted expectation for student learning in health.

B.   “Credit” means a student’s successful completion of an academic year of study and a student’s mastery of the applicable subject matter, as determined by the school district.

C.   “Section 504 Accommodation” means the defined appropriate accommodations or modifications that must be made in the school environment to address the needs of an individual student with disabilities.

D.   “Individualized Education Program” or “IEP” means a written statement developed for a student eligible by law for special education and services.

E.    “English language learners” or “ELL” student means an individual whose first language is not English and whose test performance may be negatively impacted by lack of English language proficiency.

3)  District Assessment Coordinator 

The superintendent shall designate the District Assessment Coordinator.  Said person shall be in charge of all test procedures and shall bring recommendations to the school board annually for approval.

4)  Graduation Assessment Requirements

Students’ state graduation requirements, based on a longitudinal, systematic approach to student education and career planning, assessment, instructional support, and evaluation, include the following:

 A.  Achievement and career and college readiness in mathematics, reading, and writing as measured against a continuum of empirically derived, clearly defined benchmarks focused on students’ attainment of knowledge and skills. Therefore, students, their parents, and teachers know how well students must perform to have a reasonable chance to succeed in a career or college without the need for postsecondary remediation. 

This facilitates the monitoring of students’ continuous development of and growth in requisite knowledge and skills, analysis of students’ progress and performance levels, identification of students’ academic strengths and diagnosis of areas where students require curriculum or instructional adjustments, targeted interventions, or remediation.

In addition, a students’ learning and instructional needs and the instructional tools and best practices that support academic rigor for the student based on analysis of students’ progress and performance data is determined.

 B.  Consistent with this paragraph and Minnesota Statutes section 120B.125, age-appropriate exploration and planning activities and career assessments to encourage students to identify personally relevant career interests and aptitudes and help students and their families develop a regularly reexamined transition plan for postsecondary education or employment without need for postsecondary remediation.

C.  Based on appropriate state guidelines, students with an IEP may satisfy state graduation requirements by achieving an individual score on the state-identified alternative assessments.

D.  Students meeting the state graduation requirements under this section must receive targeted, relevant, academically rigorous, and resourced instruction. This may include a targeted instruction and intervention plan focused on improving the student’s knowledge and skills in core subjects. This allows students to have a reasonable chance to succeed in a career or college without need for postsecondary remediation.

E. Students meeting the state graduation requirements under this section and who are students in grade 11 or 12 and who are identified as academically ready for a career or college are actively encouraged by the school district to participate in courses and programs awarding college credit to high school students.  Students are not required to achieve a specified score or level of proficiency on an assessment to graduate from high school.

F.  A student’s progress toward career and college readiness must be recorded on the student’s high school transcript.              

5)  Graduation Credit Requirements 

Students beginning 8^th grade beginning in the 2017-2018 school year and thereafter must successfully complete, as determined by the school district, the following high school level credits for graduation:

A.  Twelve trimester credits of language arts sufficient to satisfy all academic standards in English language arts;

B.  Nine trimester credits of mathematics, including three trimester credits of algebra II or its equivalent, geometry, statistics and probability, or its equivalent, sufficient to satisfy all of the academic standards in mathematics;

C.  Students in the graduation class of 2015 and beyond must complete three trimester algebra I credits by the end of 8^th grade sufficient to satisfy all of the 8^th grade standards in mathematics;

D.  Nine trimester credits of science, including at least (a) three trimester credits of biology; (b) three trimester credits of chemistry or physics, and (c) three trimester elective credits of science.  The combination of credits must be sufficient to satisfy all of the academic standards in either chemistry or physics and all other academic standards in science;

E.  Ten trimester credits of social studies, encompassing at least United States history, geography, government and citizenship, world history, and economics, sufficient to satisfy all of the academic standards in social studies;

F.  One trimester credit of health and one trimester credit of physical education;

G. Two trimester credits in the arts sufficient to satisfy all of the state or local academic standards in the arts; and

H.  A minimum of twenty-two elective trimester credits.

I.  Credit equivalencies 

1.  A trimester credit of economics taught in a school’s agricultural, food, and natural resources education or business education program or department may fulfill a trimester credit in social studies under Section 5. A.5. above, if the trimester credit is sufficient to satisfy all of the academic standards in economics.

2.  Up to three trimester credits of an agriculture science or career and technical education may fulfill the elective science credit required under Section 5. A.4. above, if the credit meets the state physical science, life science, earth and space science, chemistry, or physics academic standards or a combination of these academic standards as approved by the school district.  An agriculture or career and technical education credit may fulfill the credit in chemistry or physics required under Section F.A.4. above, if the credit meets the state chemistry or physics academics standards as approved by the school district.  A student must satisfy either all of the chemistry or physics academic standards prior to graduation.  Agriculture science or career and technical education credits may not fulfill the required biology credits under Section 5. A.5. above.    

3. Up to three trimester credits of career and technical education may fulfill a mathematics or arts Section 5. A.2.

4. Up to three computer science credits may fulfill a mathematics credit requirement under Section 5. A.2., above, if the credit meets state academic standards in mathematics.

5. Up to three trimester credits of Project Lead the Way may fulfill a science or mathematics credit requirement under Section 5. A.2. or Section 5. A.4. above, if the credit meets the state academic standards in science or mathematics.

6. An ethnic studies course may fulfill a social studies, language arts, arts, math, or science credit if the course meets the applicable state academic standards.  An ethnic studies course may fulfill an elective credit if the course meets applicable local standards or other requirements.

6) Academic Standards Requirements

A.   The following subject areas are required for statewide accountability:

1.  English language arts;

2.  mathematics;

3.  science;

4.  social studies, including history, geography, economics, and government and citizenship;

5.  physical education;

6.  health, for which locally developed academic standards apply; and

7.  the arts, for which statewide or locally developed academic standards apply, as determined by the school district.

B.  The academic standards for language arts, mathematics, and science apply to all students except the very few students with extreme cognitive or physical impairments for whom an IEP team has determined that the required academic standards are inappropriate.  An IEP team that makes this determination must establish alternative standards.

7)  Elective Standards Requirements

A.  The school district shall establish its own standards in the following subject areas:

1.  career and technical education; and

2.  world languages; (A school district must use the current world languages standards developed by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages)              

                  The school district shall offer courses in all elective subject areas. 

8)   Early Graduation

Students may be considered for early graduation, as provided for within Minnesota Statues section 120B.07 upon meeting the following conditions:

A.  All course or standards and credit requirements must be met;

B. The principal or designee shall conduct an interview with the student and parent or guardian, familiarize the parties with opportunities available in post-secondary education, and arrive at a timely decision; and

C.  The principal’s decision shall be in writing and may be subject to review by the superintendent and school board. 

Rationale:  The purpose of this policy is to set forth requirements for graduation from the school district.

Adoption and Revision History	Incorporated Policies
Policy 514 GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS This Policy Adopted:  April 9, 2002; Revised:  April 20, 2007; Rescinded:  August 19, 2008	MSBA 613
Policy E-014 GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS This Policy Adopted:  April 22, 2008; Revised:  July 20, 2010, Revised: March 27, 2012; Revised:  September 25, 2012; Revised:  July 23, 2013; Revised:  November 26, 2013; Revised:  May 26, 2015; Revised:  June 28, 2016; Revised:  August 22, 2017; Revised:  March 26, 2019
Policy 613 GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS This Policy Revised:  May 21, 2019;  December 17, 2019;  June 21, 2022; November 15, 2022; August 22, 2023

Administrative Rule, Regulation and Procedure: NA

Legal References:              Minn. Stat. § 120B.018 (Definitions)

                                             Minn. Stat. § 120B.02 (Educational Expectations and Graduation Requirements for
                                             Minnesota’s Students)

                                             Minn. Stat. § 120B.021 (Required Academic Standards)

Minn. Stat. § 120B.023 (Benchmarks)

Minn. Stat. § 120B.024 (Credits)

Minn. Stat. § 120B.07 (Early Graduation)

Minn. Stat. § 120B.11 (School District Process for Reviewing Curriculum, Instruction, and Student Achievement; Striving for the World’s Best Workforce)

Minn. Stat. § 120B.125 (Planning for Students’ Successful Transition to Postsecondary Education and Employment; Personal Learning Plans)

Minn. Stat. § 120B.128 (Educational Planning and Assessment System (EPAS) Program)

Minn. Stat. § 120B.30 (Statewide Testing and Reporting System)

Minn. Rules Parts 3501.0640-3501.0655 (Academic Standards for Language Arts)

Minn. Rules Parts 3501.0700-3501.0745 (Academic Standards for Mathematics)

Minn. Rules Parts 3501.0800-3501.0820(Academic Standards for the Arts)

Minn. Rules Parts 3501.0900-3501.0955 (Academic Standards in Science)

Minn. Rules Parts 3501.1300-3501.1345 (Academic Standards for Social Studies)

Minn. Rules Parts 3501.1400-3501.1410 (Academic Standards for Physical Education)

20 U.S.C. § 6301, et seq. (Every Student Succeeds Act)

 

Cross References:             MSBA/MASA Model Policy 104 (School District Mission Statement)

MSBA/MASA Model Policy 601 (School District Curriculum and Instruction Goals)

MSBA/MASA Model Policy 614 (School District Testing Plan and Procedure)

MSBA/MASA Model Policy 615 (Testing Accommodations, Modifications, and Exemptions for IEPs, Section 504 Plans, and Accountability LEP Students)

MSBA/MASA Model Policy 616 (School District System