State eyes tougher diploma standards

State officials will propose uniform guidelines today for the courses that high school students should take.

While each school system will continue to decide its own graduation requirements, the guidelines, if approved by the state Board of Education, will reflect the standards that public universities in Massachusetts would require for admission.

The effort also should help to reduce the number of college students who are required to enroll in remedial classes.

The idea is to nudge high schools to adopt tougher graduation requirements in a system that now sets too low a bar, said the state education commissioner, David P. Driscoll.

To graduate from high school, students must pass the state MCAS test in mathematics and English, and must take classes in civics and physical education.

''I'm alarmed by the fact that we're not preparing our kids for the world that they are facing," said Driscoll, who will present the issue to the state Board of Education today in Malden. ''We're coddling our kids now way too much, and they're the ones that are going to suffer the consequences."

Driscoll said the guidelines would set a uniform expectation in a state that is now ''obsessed" only with passing the MCAS math and English tests. More than one-third of new community college students needed remedial classes in 2004, a rate that has changed little since the MCAS became a graduation requirement, first for the graduating class of 2003.

Massachusetts does not yet track the classes students take in high school, but a statewide survey has found that requirements varied, sometimes widely.

Ninety-eight percent of schools required four years of English, but roughly one in four high schools required two years of math or less in 2001, the most recent year for which data were available.

Sixty-six percent of schools required at least three years of science, and just over a third required a foreign language.

The University of Massachusetts system, however, requires four years of English; three years of high school math, including at least Algebra II; three years of science; and two years each of history and a foreign language.

Driscoll said he would form a statewide committee to draft the guidelines, which would at least match, and perhaps exceed, the benchmark for admission into the UMass system. Driscoll said he would prefer four years of math, rather than three. The new guidelines would be rolled out over the next two years, he said.

In school systems with high rates of college admission, such as Wellesley and Brookline, most students already take college-preparatory classes, regardless of their high school graduation requirements. But in school systems that are struggling, the state guidelines could have an impact.

Lowell High School, where more than 60 percent of the students are poor, and where less than half of the students aim for a four-year college, has increased graduation requirements to make sure that students take two years of science starting in 2008, rather than one.

School officials also are considering a change in the math requirement to three years rather than two. But William Samaras, the headmaster, balked.

''Some students would have a great deal of difficulty with that," Samaras said. ''I want the standards as high as they can be. But give me some of the resources."

At Wellesley High School, most students aim for four-year private colleges, and take classes that at least match what the state universities require. ''I would say 90 percent or better are already taking that," said Thomas Hughart, director of guidance.

Driscoll said the initiative, financed with a $2 million grant through the National Governors Association, would also help the state evaluate the classes schools offer. The state may roll out a voluntary Algebra II test in 2008.

Brookline High recently increased its graduation requirements for all students.

Starting last year, all Brookline students have to take college-preparatory classes, including a foreign language. They helped students by offering extra help and a variety of classes.

The Boston high school system has graduation requirements that exceed the UMass admissions standards, but has found it difficult to get all students to pass.

In 2004, the school system decided to let students finish the classes at their own pace, taking as much as five years to graduate.

But Chris Coxon, deputy superintendent for teaching and learning, said Boston didn't want to lower the3 requirements.

''The reality is that for many of our students, they may need that additional time," he said.