By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
The educational landscape is an ever-changing one. As such, schools must attempt to keep up with the most relevant knowledge to help students post-graduation. The Kansas State Department of Education has updated high school graduation requirements for the Class of 2028. At Monday's USD 428 Great Bend Board of Education meeting, JoAnn Blevins, director of teaching and learning, said one change is dropping English Language Arts to 3.5 credits and adding a half credit of communications.
"The high school currently offers a year-long public speaking course," she said. "We're looking to shorten that to a semester so that increases the number of children who can participate and earn that credit."
Speech, debate, forensics, and journalism will also fall under the communications umbrella. History and government is now called society and humanities. Those credits remain the same though world history is now a required credit. Three credits each of science and math remain the same, but an additional Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) elective such as computer science, advanced math or science, or robotics is now required. A half credit of financial literacy is required under the employability and life skills umbrella.
"What we're kind of looking at at the high school for seniors is the government course will be a semester," said Blevins. "The second semester of that class will be financial literacy, so that will happen in that senior year to get that credit."
Local school districts can make minor provisions to the requirements to accommodate special situations. The Class of 2028 will begin its freshman year of high school next fall.