DOWNEY - The Downey Unified School District has put a one year pause on a planned transition of graduation requirements, citing underperformance with the current 10th grade class.

Starting this year, DUSD was set to start aligning its graduation requirements with those accepted by the University of California and California State University systems. 

“We had original graduation requirements that only required two years of math, one year of visual performing arts, and one year of a foreign language,” said Assistant Superintendent Dr. Roger Brossmer. “Those don’t match with the ‘critical 15’ we call them, the A-G courses required by UC's and Cal States.”

The changes were originally set to take place over the course of eight years.

The district is currently in the first year of the transition, with the classes of 2022 and 2023 held to four years of English, three years of math, two years of history, two years of science, two years of a foreign language, one year of a visual or performing art, and one year of an elective, for a total of 220 credits.

Without the pause, the rigor of requirements would have then been increased with the class of 2024 held to the “critical 15” UC approved courses along with the 2022 criteria. The new graduation requirement implementation would then be completed with the class of 2026, who would need to complete the previous two criteria with a grade of “C or better.”

However, data presented at the Board of Education’s meeting last week has shown that some students – specifically within the class of 2024 – have fallen behind, requiring the District to put a momentary pause on its initial plan.

According to the District’s numbers as of the end of the first semester, 26% of sophomores are not meeting requirements in English, 30% are not meeting requirements in math, 39% are not meeting requirements in science, and 14% are not meeting requirements in social science. A total of 875 (45%) of total sophomores are also missing credits, 152 (8%) of which are missing 60 and above and are a year or over behind.

It’s a trend that is being attributed to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I think a lot of the kids have struggled, but [the current sophomores] missed their first full year of high school, it was online,” said Brossmer. “That’s just a hard way to start high school.”

“Knowing that and looking at their progress, we want to continue to ramp up the rigor but we don’t want to do it at the cost of hurting kids.”

Brossmer added that the district saw a fork in student success during the pandemic, widening the gap between the numbers of A’s and B’s and D’s and F’s. 

“Kids were successful and had the supports maybe at home, and could get that extra help, and other kids, they just didn’t have the support,” said Brossmer. “As a district, we did what we could, but at the end of the day, kids online at home without supports is a tough situation for those families and those kids.”

At the secondary level, Brossmer said that there has been a higher rate of poorer grades amongst students who remained in at-home learning, even after being given the choice to return to campus.

“Even before the pandemic, kids struggled; this is nothing new,” said Brossmer. “But I would say [we’re seeing] at almost twice the rate of D’s and F’s that we’re seeing for those kids that remained at home than we are in person.”

By pausing their initial plans, the district and students have more time to tend to the needs of struggling students without the added pressure that the new requirements might bring.

“With everything going on… if you’re going down the freeway and a light comes on, you usually pull over and assess it, you don’t floor it,” said Brossmer. “Really, it’s this idea of if there’s uncertainty with such big decisions, let’s don’t just put our heads down and trudge forward; let’s pause and evaluate, and make sure, like any good doctor, do no harm.”

“We’re not here to hurt, we’re doing this to help kids be more successful.”

The pause pushes everything back by a year, meaning that the class of 2024 will be held to the same graduation standards as the classes of 2022 and 2023. Current freshmen and eight graders will be required to meet the “critical 15” UC approved courses, and the class of 2027 (seventh graders and younger) will need to meet those standards with a C or better.

Brossmer said that if needed, another year pause could be implemented, however was confident that things would be back on track by next year.