GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS
Policy Action: Adopt College and Career-Ready Graduation Requirements
Increase graduation requirements. New academic standards will signify college and career readiness, but the state needs to align these standards with the courses students are required to take to earn a high school diploma. Otherwise, students will continue to graduate unprepared for their next steps.
To develop college- and career-ready standards, the state needs to take action in three focus areas.
More math: Currently, Illinois students need only Algebra I and Geometry to graduate, but research shows that students need math through at least Algebra II in order to succeed in college and careers.36 The state should require three or four years of math through Algebra II or its verified technical equivalent
More science: Currently, Illinois students need to take two science classes. The state doesn’t require these to be laboratory science—where students learn the scientific method, how to discover, how to investigate—nor does the state express a preference for which disciplines are essential for all students. At least one, if not both, of the science classes should be specified as laboratory sciences,
and the state might consider adding a third science credit, as many states have.
More relevance: More rigorous courses for all students does not have to mean boring courses or a lockstep, one-size-fits-all approach. The state can encourage schools and districts to build more relevant learning experiences by designing the graduation requirements in a way that supports virtual learning (online courses), and that opens the doors to more varied curriculum or better dual enrollment partnerships with local community colleges and universities. Illinois has placed more attention in recent years on strengthening dual
enrollment, and a statewide task force has released policy and funding options to ensure high quality and accessible dual credit options.37
One of the most important ways to increase relevance is to improve career and technical education (CTE) by designing intentional CTE-based course sequences that meet high school graduation requirements. In particular, the state should support and approve CTE pathways —not just individual courses—that can be substituted as equivalents to traditional course sequences in math and science. These pathways should not sacrifice academic rigor, but can help prepare students for high-wage, high-growth jobs and further training.
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