Literacy Graduation Requirement Finalized By Board of Education

The New London Public Schools’ Class of 2015 will have to meet an additional requirement for graduation after the Board of Education unanimously approved a literacy standard on Thursday.

The board previously and sent it to the Policy Committee, where it before it was again presented to the Board of Education. The new standard requires students to demonstrate 10th grade level literacy before graduating.

Students may first demonstrate this ability in sophomore year, and will have access to school resources including Adult Education and online courses until the age of 21 to work toward the requirement. Proficiency may be shown through achievement on the Connecticut Academic Performance Test; demonstrated ability using the Northwest Education Association standard for reading skills and Pearson standard for writing skills; passing the General Education Development test for English; or passing the Informal Reading Inventory, which uses a Pearson writing sample and portfolio of student work.

The school curriculum will be adjusted to reflect the new requirement, and accommodations will be made for students considered English Language Learners and special education pupils. Dr. Nicholas Fischer, superintendent of schools, said he considers the standard a commitment to improved education and hopes to strengthen other areas as well.

“To my knowledge, this will make us the first district in the state of Connecticut to have a literacy requirement,” he said.

Board of Education Vice President Susan Connolly said she supported an increase in other requirements, including making the number of academic credits required to graduate be the same for both the and the . Secretary Jason Catala, who opposed the standard in committee on the basis that it could prove too burdensome to certain struggling non-special education students, said he wanted to ensure that the non-CAPT options would be viable.

The New London High School’s current graduation requirements include earning 23 academic credits and performing a total of 40 hours of community service. The Policy Committee’s change to the graduation requirements allows teachers performing district assessment tasks to evaluate student work to only do so in mathematics rather than English and mathematics, as the English standard will be covered by the literacy requirement.

Correction: the original article said students must complete 10 hours of community service as a graduation requirement. Students must commit 10 hours each year for a total of 40 hours.