“Education Beyond Expectations.”
But not too far beyond expectations.
When comparing the Blue Valley School District graduation requirements with those of the Kansas Board of Regents, one can see the similarities.
It makes sense BV has followed in the footsteps of the Board of Regents, whose requirements dictate what high school classes students must take in order to apply to one of five state universities.
BV School District is helping students be able to continue with their educations, and that’s great.
If we didn’t adhere to these requirements, we would have far fewer college students.
However, there are a few missing links when looking at this list.
For example, the Board of Regents and BV School District only require three years of math.
It’s true that five of the six Kansas universities don’t require more than that to apply for admission.
However, many other schools do.
It would be unfortunate if a student was otherwise fully qualified to attend a certain college but was not admitted due to a missing math or science credit.
In addition, there’s more to college than just getting admitted.
Even if a student can apply to and attend a Kansas university without taking math or science his or her senior year, how successful will that student be?
After not being in a math class for two months, attempting to complete my summer math assignment was pretty much a disaster.
It only stands to reason that a student who skipped math for his or her entire senior year won’t be doing well in a freshman course.
If BV is really concerned about preparing students to be completely college ready, the district needs to require a math course all four years.
That will lead to true education beyond expectations — even the state’s expectations — as well as higher student success in college.