FARMINGTON—High school juniors and seniors who are lacking the credits to graduate now have a way to make those up and walk with their graduating class. The Focused Graduation Pathway gives eligible students the opportunity to receive the support they need to earn those credits.

“In February the State School Board passed a rule that allowed students who are heavily credit deficient to take part in the Focused Graduation Pathway and stay enrolled in their high school,” said T.J. Strain, Davis School District Teaching & Learning Department Director. “Before, students had to withdraw and weren’t connected with their high school.”

It’s a statewide program, he said. “Districts can create their own policy and the school board approved ours. Now we’ll put it into action.”

The program is only for juniors and seniors, said Strain. “They have to have parental permission and they can’t use the credits to graduate early.”

Students must be significantly behind, he said. “At least six credits behind if they’re a junior and three credits behind if they’re a senior.”

The student, parent and counselor meet to set up a plan, Strain said. “A lot of students have a study skills class where they can really hone in on taking the GED. They take a pre-test to see if they’re eligible to take the full GED. If they pass they can get up to 13 credits.”

The GED areas are:

• 4.0 credits for language arts (Reasoning through Language Arts Test)
• 3.0 credits for social studies (Social Studies Test)
• 3.0 credits for mathematics (Mathematical Reasoning Test)
• 3.0 credits for science (Science Test) 

This program doesn’t hit everybody, he said. “The vast majority of students go through regular classes. It could be a student that comes from out of state and didn’t get a lot of credits. We get a high number of homeschooled students. A lot of kids come back and don’t have the credits. Some are heavily credit deficient because we have no evidence of credits.”

Previously students could maybe go to adult education, said Strain. “A lot stay enrolled in their own school. For a 16-year-old they’re saying ‘I’m here but I can’t graduate.’ This gives them a little hope and a light at the end of the tunnel.”

In the study class students have access to material to help them prepare for the GED, he said. “The GED is more robust than the ACT,” Strain said. “It focuses more on the overall learning in high school and where you’re at. The ACT is trickier to nail down where you are, the GED is tied to a specific standard.”

Students must meet all of the other graduation requirements, he said. “It’s by no means an easy option. They need to meet 27 credits to walk with their class or they can get a 24 credit diploma but they couldn’t walk.”

Strain said they always want kids to go the regular route. “The reality is some have dug their own hole. They could’ve just been lazy and didn’t do anything. There’s a variety of reasons why they’re behind.”

Some of their situations aren’t typical, he said. “They’re placed into the hole by no fault of their own. Sometimes things just don’t go their way. Some parents are incarcerated and navigating school on their own at 15 is hard for kids. We think ‘let’s see what we can do to help.’”

Strain said they’re not downplaying the regular route. “If we can get them back on track they don’t have to take the long road around to get back to where they need to be.”

The program will start in the fall, he said. “Anything new starts out clunky. We’ll transition over this year. The counselors are excited to be able to offer options.”

It’s been disheartening for them not to be able to help students, said Strain. “Now they’ll have options. I’m excited to see it come to fruition.”