Yesterday, the Ohio State School Board approved recommendations with new graduation requirements that would begin in 2022. This serves as the next action in the process of attempting to revise requirements for students in the state of Ohio.
The board previously approved long-term recommendations last fall, but legislation at the end of the last general assembly required the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) to take a further look into their recommendations. This report is required to be presented to the legislature by April 1.
Following the passage of HB 491 in the 131st General Assembly, ODE sought input from many different avenues. One of which was the business community. The Ohio Chamber, along with the other business associations met with ODE and Superintendent Paolo DeMaria to express our concerns with the new graduation requirements, specifically, the portion of the requirements that allows students to graduate based partially on completion of a project known as a culminating student experience. This would be something to that of a capstone project.
In the meeting yesterday, there was a motion to remove this as part of the recommendation. Unfortunately, it failed by a vote of 14-1. Additionally, there was a change to the recommendations to delay their implementation until 2022. It now falls on the legislature’s lap to decide what the graduation requirements will be. How much of these recommendations will they implement into law? That remains to be seen.