Pass Rigorous High School Grad Requirements

At the time these two articles were written, there was a concern that state lawmakers would loose their resolve, and fail to pass more rigorous graduation requirements.

Many in the education community were -- and still are -- fighting the effort to raise the bar.

I wrote both of these articles in support of the increased requirements:

Oakland Press: Minimum graduation requirements needed (12/28/05)

Detroit News: Pass rigorous requirements for state diploma (03/01/06)

Fortunately the new graduation requirements passed in spring of 2006.

I still believe that a two-tier diploma makes sense. The first would be a meaningful and rigorous diploma that meets basics college prep guidelines. The other would be an "honors diploma" that would be earned by various criteria, such as AP (or IB) classes, cummunity service, etc.

==> Mike.