State rule changes force updates to district student-progression plan; certificates of completion eliminated

Marion County Public Schools told the board on Aug. 21 that late state rulemaking required updates to the district’s student-progression plan. District staff said rule changes eliminate the “certificate of completion” option previously available to students who met some requirements but not the state assessment concordance or other expectations; students may instead remain in high school for up to one additional year to earn a diploma.

Mark Ingram, who presented the revisions with Miss Connor, said the State Board of Education’s rulemaking removed the language that allowed awarding a certificate of completion for students who had earned the required credits but not met testing or concordant-score requirements. ‘‘The certificate of completion is no longer an option for students. Our schools will not award certificates of completion because the state does not allow for it,’’ Ingram said. He told the board that existing students who previously received a certificate of completion had numbered about 70 districtwide last year and that roughly 68 were high-school-level students in that group.

Staff explained that students may elect to stay in high school as full- or part-time students for a fifth year to complete missing requirements. The district clarified that fifth-year students are not funded with additional FTE by the state (i.e., non-funded fifth-year enrollment) and said the district will offer appropriate tutoring, credit recovery or test-prep supports. Ingram said students who graduate before the district’s summer-school cutoff are reported as graduates for that school year, but students who complete graduation requirements after the reporting cutoff may not be reflected in the school-grade component tied to graduation calculations.

In addition, Ingram said the state changed concordance score options: the SAT reading and writing concordance score was increased by 10 points, PSAT scores may now serve as concordant scores for ELA in certain cases, and additional assessments (Pre-ACT, CLT10) were added as concordant options. He said students who were juniors this year and who earned concordant scores before the state date (Aug. 19) may use the old concordance table; the district is identifying which students are affected and will report the changes publicly.

Staff said they would schedule a public hearing and review of the updated progression plan; the district indicated a public hearing would be held on Sept. 23 following corrections to one date that was updated by the state during the week of the work session.

Board members asked about the impact on fifth-year seniors and funding. Staff said the number of students affected is small relative to district enrollment but that the district will maintain outreach and counseling so students understand paths to graduation and the consequences of certificates no longer being available.