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SALT LAKE COUNTY --The Canyons school board has voted to allow students their choice of three different diplomas to work toward. District spokeswoman Jennifer Toomer-Cook says the district wants to reward students who make the effort to prepare for college.
"The idea is to make sure we send the message that taking a more rigorous path in high school will better prepare you for the demands of college and the workplace," said Toomer-Cook.
Once implemented, the students can earn the regular diploma with 18 credit hours and the advanced diploma with 20 credit hours, with more emphasis on math and science. Then there's the honors diploma that requires achieving the advanced diploma, as well as achieving benchmark scores on the ACT.
"We are not looking for universities to say, ‘Which diploma do you have?'" said Toomer-Cook. "We are looking for universities to say, ‘What kind of course work did you take, how did you get there, and are you prepared to be here?'"
This will be the first district in the state to offer a tiered high school diploma. Plans are also being discussed to allow students to take the ACT with the district paying for the expensive test the first time it's taken.
Another item the board voted on is to reconfigure the grade distribution. The goal is to move ninth graders into the high schools while at the same time moving sixth graders into middle school.
The new diploma program will take at least a year to implement and the grade redistribution could take a couple of years before the schools are ready to make the move.
E-mail: rjeppesen@ksl.com
