Kentucky’s Franklin Simpson High School has the right idea about who should graduate

One Kentucky high school is boldly stepping out with truly quality requirements for high school graduation, and it is a policy that should be replicated statewide.

The Franklin Simpson High School in Simpson County is requiring every one of its current senior class either to achieve acceptable scores on the ACT college entrance test or to meet recognized occupational skills test and certification requirements that show the student really is ready for a quality, non-college career.

This is what all of Kentucky high schools should require before handing out a high school diploma, but new statistics on high school graduation rates and college and career readiness show that Franklin Simpson’s outstanding example is far from the norm in Kentucky.

Several days ago, Governor Steve Beshear announced that the Class of 2013 posted a sharply increased graduation rate of 86 percent, but he also said that only 54 percent of those graduates met goals for college and/or career preparation.

Clearly, a very large proportion of Kentucky’s 2013 high school graduates were not prepared to anything like the standard that Franklin Simpson High now says is the bare minimum for any student who wants to cross its graduation ceremony platform in the spring of 2014.

So, hats off to Franklin Simpson! What a wonderful, bold move to really improve education for your students.

For the rest of our educators, including our Kentucky Board of Education, are you paying attention???