Ohio Ponders Plan to Overhaul Senior Year

Many students treat the second half of senior year of high school as a vacation before college, and education officials all over the state want to change that.

The Ohio Department of Education and the Ohio Board of Regents are partnering to take the senioritis out of the senior year of high school. The proposals to overhaul the second half of senior year, to make it more relevant to the academic or employment careers of high schoolers, have been floating around since 2001, but for more than a decade, no state took serious steps to adopt any of them. Now two groups in Ohio are now putting together their own plans to make the 12th year matter again.

The proposal getting the most buzz was offered by the head of Ohio’s higher-education system Jim Petro and the Superintendent of the Ohio Department of Education Stan Heffner. They propose to fund Ohio’s public schools only until 11th grade, giving seniors more choices to pursue their education during their last year in high school.

“We should make 12th grade a neutral and wherever the student goes the money should go,” Petro said. “If half the students are taking courses at a community college, the college gets it.”

Petro and Heffner said funding could also be distributed to cover seniors who go to technical training schools, seek apprenticeships and internships or stay in high school.

Although schools in the state already offer options like Advanced Placement classes that allow students to earn college credit — and also allows students to enroll in community college classes for free — only 4% of students currently take advantage of them. Although schools are happy to offer AP classes, they discourage students from the community college route since funding follows the student there as well.

As a compromise, the Cleveland State University faculty is going to be teaching a college-level math and English courses at three schools in the Cleveland area which will give college credits to students who complete them. Sajit Zachariah, the dean of the College of Education and Human Services which is sponsoring the classes hopes that it will make the transition between high school and college smoother as well as interest students in attending CSU the following year.

“If this model is successful, we hope to expand it to other districts,” Zachariah said.

Solon schools Superintendent Joseph Regano believes that the solution to the wasted senior year is to follow the lead of countries like China and India and eliminate it entirely.

He believes students should graduate after 11th grade.

“Instead of K-12, start funding at age 4 and fund preschool through grade 11,” Regano said. “This is a way to do [preschool] at no cost. And students who do not attend preschool are in disadvantaged neighborhoods.”

Comments

Kevin

April 25, 2012 at 9:17 am

Wouldn’t getting rid of 12th grade basically recreate this very same problem in 11th grade?

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Heather

April 25, 2012 at 9:28 am

No. They’re not going to “get rid” of senior year. (if they do this right). Instead, seniors who want to go to college- can start taking classes and get rid of those general electives that 4 year colleges make you take. You can take those anywhere. Seniors who want to learn a trade can start taking specialized classes. Then when they graduate- they will be even closer to getting a job as an electrician or plumber. Seniors who don’t know what they want to do can stay in high school and figure it out. Maybe do an internship to determine what interests them. I think that is the right thing to do. Education is about being prepared for the real world. Too often, schools hand over the diploma and say, “Good luck!” And why? Because that’s how they were treated. I love this idea. Better prepare our kids!

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- Kevin
  
  April 25, 2012 at 9:31 am
  
  Letting students use their 12th year was only one of the plans under consideration. The other one was getting rid of senior year altogether, having kids graduate after 11 years. That was the plan to which my comment was directed and my question sill remains unanswered. If you get rid of 12th grade, all this will do is recreate the same problem in 11th grade. We’ll save some money, sure, but hardly solve the problem at hand.
  
  Reply
Louise

April 25, 2012 at 9:32 am

I think the question to consider is not about the wasted senior year, but about the preparation of the the student for these choices. If students are prepared for college or technical training at the end of their 11th year, then the 12th should be eliminated. But, complaints from colleges and technical schools frequently criticize the foundations and preparation for students. Too many are entering in remedial courses.
For those who are prepared and ready for advanced classes and training, a pathway to do that would be good. For those who are not, remedial education is much needed. We can provide that at a much lower cost in high school than having them sit in remedial classes in college, usually resulting in dropping out.

And, by the way, many high school students, faculty and administration will tell you the majority of their Advanced, Honors and AP Classes are very demanding and they work hard right up until graduation.

The irony of it is that the ones who need the remedial work are the very ones who have most senioritis! We need to look at the placement of those students–so many of them should be in technical trainin and career centers their junior and senior years, but because of social stigmas and their thinking they are going on to a 4-year college keeps too many of them at their traditional high schools.

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David

April 25, 2012 at 10:34 am

Senior year should be spend at Ohio`s one year college option the career centers (Adult Education). Students will have a cerificated trade area and college credit … plus they can work if they wish or continue at a two year college.

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Doug

April 25, 2012 at 1:56 pm

Privatization one year at a time. Stupid. There is no problem. This is totally manufactured.

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