Scottsdale district weighs new graduation requirements  
Arizona Republic
Nov. 14, 2007

Ofelia Madrid
 

The Scottsdale Unified School District board is taking another look at high school graduation requirements.

In June, the school board approved a multitiered diploma system that would retain the 22-credit minimum needed to graduate, and offer a scholar's diploma to students completing at least 24 credits, including four years of math and an extra elective.

But the Arizona State Board of Education is expected in December to increase the minimum requirements to graduate from an Arizona high school to 22 credits, from 20, starting with the graduating class of 2012.

Scottsdale already requires 22 credits to graduate, except for students at the Sierra Vista alternative school, who only need 20. That alternative diploma will disappear with the state board change.

Some Scottsdale board members want to require all graduates to take two years of foreign language.

But board president Karen Beckvar said she is concerned about burdening students who take career and technical courses. District officials estimate adding foreign language teachers would cost as much as $400,000