As the class of 2028 nears the halfway mark in their high school careers, many students face confusion regarding their graduation requirements. Starting with the class of 2028, students will now be required to take 3.5 credits of English, 1 STEM credit, 0.5 credits of communications, 0.5 credits of financial literacy and will have to complete 2 Post Secondary Assets, achievements or experiences that prepare students for higher education or the workforce. Assets include earning a 21 or higher score on the ACT, 95% attendance in high school, and earning the Seal of Biliteracy. A full list of graduation requirements can be found here.
Sophomore Max Bolick said he and his peers are getting increasingly concerned about graduation, particularly the financial literacy credit. Counselor Marc Conover confirmed that Free State does not currently have a course to fulfill the credit, but they are working with the district to develop one.
“It’s concerning that we don’t have a class for a credit we’re required to have,” Bolick said.
The change in graduation requirements comes directly from the Kansas Board of Education. Conover said he believes the Board added the communications and financial literacy credits because they felt students were leaving high school without sufficient knowledge in those areas. Previously, USD497 students also had to fulfill a 0.5 credit of career and life planning, but that was recently removed.
“That [credit] wasn’t a state requirement; that was something our district wanted. That got changed, because–there’s lots of reasons– but it wasn’t quite working the way they were wanting it to,” Conover said.
Bolick said that communication from counselors regarding the requirements and their changes has been less than ideal, but he feels confident that if questions arose, counselors would be more than willing to help. Sophomore Ruth Yang said she also feels information is primarily being shared between students, not from counselors.
Conover said that staff are currently working with the district and tech department to create a system to track students’ PSAs. He also said that as the class of 2028 and beyond become upperclassmen, they will meet with students to ensure requirements are met.
“The counselors are currently meeting with district people and tech people to try to figure out how to track it [PSAs], either on Power School or via Xello, and they’re developing this tracking system now…I would think at least by the end of the year, or starting next year, it should be in place,” Conover said.
