This morning I read an article in the Journal concerning School district 25’s plan to increase high school graduation requirements. It seems that they plan to raise math and science credits from four to six each, require a senior project, give the ACT, SAT or Compass testing by the end of the 11^th grade, and raise the overall credits needed for graduation from 42 to 46.

I have no doubt that District 25 officials are simply trying to correct a problem that everyone who is concerned with the quality of our student’s education has been wrestling with for many years. I have no problem with raising the expectation of our student’s performance in school, but I do have a problem with setting them up for failure if they aren’t the brightest and fastest learners in the system.

The school district can not expect to raise the standards, increase the required credits needed and have everyone succeed in the same old time constraints that have been in place for decades.

The basic problems are that student learning varies between different individuals, and everyone is expected to master that learning in a set time limit such as one semester or a couple of nine week periods. The solution is an overhaul of the present educational system to a truly competency based system.

In the present educational system, learning varies while time is constant. In a competency based educational system with its learning teaching module approach, learning is constant while time varies. In other words, each student exits each learning module with the same minimum test score, which is quite high and requires mastery of the information, but the time it takes each student to master the information in each learning module varies.

The value of a competency based educational system is that it is designed to make students successful at their own pace and eliminate the pressure that many students feel trying to keep up with the pace that teachers have to set to cover all the material in the time constraints that are placed on them.

Are there disadvantages or a down side to Competency based education? The answer is yes. Changing to a competency based educational system with its learning teaching modules organizational program, would require college education departments to change the curriculum in order to train prospective teachers; teachers would be required to participate in continuing education classes and seminars through out their entire careers,  the pressure to successfully complete the learning teaching module in a given time limit would have to be eliminated and the school district would probably have to go to a year round program which many districts around the country have already started doing.

The disadvantages or down side of raising the standards and credits needed while sticking with the same time constraints is that student mastery of the material will vary widely and many will be set up for failure.

I realize that that our current school district has many fine and dedicated administrators and teachers who want the best for our students. I have always been very grateful to the excellent teachers my own children have had over the years. Their's is not an easy job and most of them have gone above and beyond the call of duty. I remember one of my son’s teachers at Century High School, who tried everything she could think of to help my son understand Algebra II. She really wanted him to master the subject, and we will be eternally grateful for her efforts.