State weighs high school guidelines

If the state were to require that high school students take a certain set of courses in order to graduate, Richard Robbat said he would have one question: Who's going to pay for it?

Robbat, superintendent of the King Philip Regional School District, said the high school has already had to cut back on physical education classes because of staffing reductions. If state requirements meant that his school had to offer new classes, that could be a burden, he said.

''If we don't have adequate funding, then it's very difficult," he said.

The state Board of Education is considering introducing statewide guidelines for what classes students should take in high school. It is unclear whether those guidelines would actually become requirements, but Melanie Winklosky, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Education, said the discussion is still in the early stages.

''If we were going to require anything, it would be a big public discussion," she said.

The guidelines the board is considering resemble admissions requirements for the University of Massachusetts system. Those include four years of English, three years each of math and science, and two years each of a foreign language and social science.

Public high schools across the state currently can determine their own course requirements for graduation.

At the same time, though, the schools are working under state-issued ''curriculum frameworks" that spell out what students should learn in particular subjects. Students' mastery of that material is then tested on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, an exam that students must pass to graduate.

Winklosky said the board will probably look to the frameworks as it develops the guidelines for what courses high school students should take.

A study released in 2001 showed that although nearly all high schools in Massachusetts required four years of English, only 78 percent required three years of math, and 66 percent required three years of science. The department is unsure how many schools, if any, would be affected if new guidelines are implemented, Winklosky said.

Several schools in Boston's western suburbs already have minimum requirements in place that are similar to those being considered by the state and are, in some cases, even tougher. At Hudson High School, students are required to take an additional year of social studies as well as electives in computers and technology and applied arts, said principal John Stapelfeld.

Waltham High School also has stricter requirements -- requiring an extra year of math and social studies, said principal John Graceffa.

Those requirements have been in place at least 20 years, he said.

''It really would probably have little or no effect on us," Graceffa said of the guidelines being considered by the state.

King Philip, which has students from Norfolk, Wrentham, and Plainville, does not require students to take a language, Robbat said.

Still, the school's requirements for English, math, and science are the same as what is being considered by state officials, and students are required to take an additional year of social studies.

In Milford, high school principal John Brucato said students have already been taking more courses because study periods have been eliminated. That change was implemented under the state's sweeping education reform plan, which went into effect about 12 years ago.

Brucato said efforts to improve education have ''been a long time coming" and he thought his school could take in stride any new state coursework guidelines.