Upcoming changes to graduation requirements, Career and Technical Education (CTE) pathways, and the district’s Individual Plan of Study (IPS) curriculum were under the microscope at Tuesday’s meeting of the Iola USD 257 Board of Education.
Dana Daugharthy, CTE coordinator, spoke about the opportunities and goals these updates will offer students starting with the class of 2028.
Currently, USD 257 students must earn 24 total credits to graduate — a number that will remain unchanged. The difference is that students will now be required to complete one full credit of an Advanced STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) course.
“When I was thinking about what kind of courses there could be, I also tried to think more broadly and lean into the technology aspect,” he said. “A lot of our students will already take one of these classes in high school.”
Traditional courses like calculus, algebra, and physics will meet this new requirement, as will robotics, botany, zoology, computer programming, animal science, and woodworking principles, among others. Daugharthy noted that none of these are entry-level courses; each has prerequisites or requires teacher permission.
“If you’re a science person, this requirement is easy,” Daugharthy said. “If you’re a student who wants to go into a Family and Consumer Science program, we have options for you as well. The course offerings do a great job of covering lots of different interests.”
As a result of the added STEM credit, the total number of elective credits required will decrease from 7.5 to 6.5.
ANOTHER significant change involves the current half-credit consumer education requirement, which will be replaced by a half-credit course in financial literacy. Daugharthy said the existing consumer education course is taught online without a teacher present.
“Through conversations with students, they’re not learning a lot in the class,” he said. “For our demographic area, that class should be important for our students. They need to learn how to manage their money.”
The revamped financial literacy class will feature direct instruction and interactive learning. “They are going to have meaningful conversations and actually have things that they are working on,” said Daugharthy.
New CTE options are also on the horizon, with the addition of a Business Management & Administration pathway. “A lot of that pathway is coming through Allen Community College courses taught on their campus,” Daugharthy explained. “It’s a good option for our students wanting to go into business.”
Graduation requirements for 2028 and beyond will also include the completion of at least two “post-secondary assets.” These may include youth apprenticeships, 40 or more hours of community service, participation in two or more high school athletics or activities, and more.
THE BOARD also heard about changes coming to preparing students for college or a career through its Individual Plan of Study curriculum, which helps students plan their post-secondary goals and develop critical skills. “I started thinking, ‘What if USD 257 led the state in college and career readiness?’,” said Daugharthy. “We should be able to do that.”
He enlisted a team of teachers to help identify four core components for achieving this goal: excellent teachers, effective programs, industry equipment and job-ready curricula, and a structured IPS for each student.
“We already have excellent teachers,” he said. “We have effective programs and great opportunities at the tech center and Allen.”
Giving an example, Daugharthy described a recent visit to a CTE conference in Manhattan, where he toured the local high school. “They showed us all of their CTE programs and I was expecting to be blown away,” he said. “I was. I was blown away by how many offerings we have here in Iola. We have more for our students than they do in Manhattan. It made me really proud.”
