Santa Ana seeks to ease high school graduation requirements - Los Angeles Times
"Through this culture of high standards and high expectations we have seen improvement," said state Supt. of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell. "But we need to continue to expect more of students, not less."In Santa Ana, a city of mostly Latino immigrants where 60% of the students are learning English as a second language and nearly 4 in 10 at some schools do not make it through their senior year, officials say they are contemplating a more pragmatic approach.
Students' schedules are so packed with required courses that if they fail a class or two, they can lose hope of graduating, officials said.
Last year, administrators began crafting a proposal that would turn four courses typically taken during students' first two years into electives, but would still require students to take all the courses required for admission to the UC and Cal State systems -- something other big-city school districts such as Los Angeles and San Francisco have not done.
"If we