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Push to advanced diploma concerns educators Dr. Vic Adkison, superintendent of the Thomasville City Schools System, addressed concerns about a proposal from the State Board of Education is to have all students enrolled in the Advanced Academic Diploma program unless the student and parents opt out. The difference between an "advanced" and regular diploma is the requirement of two credits of foreign languages and Algebra II with trigonometry among the Math credits. Adkison had recently attended a called meeting on the proposal by State Board Superintendent Joe Morton. The state board will likely approve the changes, he said. Adkison told the Thomasville Board of Education May 20 that he was in favor of more rigor and higher expectations for students, but "you've got to have procedural time." "…This could mean more personnel for remediation and credit recovery." There may be more of a demand for individual instruction, he said Tuesday. He envisions students in before-school, afterschool, Saturday and summer classes. "You're going to have to have the flexibility with personnel to be able to accommodate the needs of the children, to accelarate their learning and keep them on track." Gerald Stephens, superintendent of the Clarke County Schools System, also addressed the state board's push to advanced diplomas. "It's bad to start with. Everybody will be in it, unless they opt out….When they get in it and they can't do the work, then you've got to have remediation. …We're fixing to see a dropout rate that is way higher than it is now," Stephens said Adkison feels the emphasis on the advanced diploma will destroy career paths that have already been developed. The demands for workers in the coming years in Southwest Alabama point toward a need to emphasize career tech. "I'm not sure how much foreign language or geometry with trigonometry that all of our children (in those workforce or career paths) are going to benefit from," he said. Adkison is worried that parents will choose the advanced path because they don't want people thinking their child is not smart enough or not good enough when a career tech path would have been better for the child's future. "Everybody is not geared to go to college," Stephens said. Despite the emphasis to go to college, "we're looking for welders," he said. "You can't find plumbers. You can't find bricklayers. You can't find painters - even." Distance learning video technology and web-based learning, which is just beginning to be utilized, will have to pushed into high gear for the advanced diploma program. "You increase the numbers," Adkison said. "Can the state handle it with the equipment out there?" Morton told the superintendents it would work. "We went web-based last year, and we were not successful with it. The video conferencing we have not tried yet, but we will be trying." In addition, Adkison brought up the spector of a "PE For All" bill currently being considered in the State House of Representatives. Students K-12 must have a designated time for physical education.
"This bill has no funding for additional PE teachers and no funding for facilities," he said. "You know it is going to hinder the instructional program."
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