FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
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STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION
JIM HORNE
Commissioner of Education
F. PHILIP HANDY,
Chairman
T. WILLARD FAIR,
Vice Chairman
Members
LINDA J. EADS, ED.D.
CHARLES PATRICK GARCÍA
JULIA L. JOHNSON
WILLIAM L. PROCTOR, PH.D.
LINDA K. TAYLOR
CONTACT
PERSON
Name:
Jim Warford
Phone:
(850) 245-0509
SunCom:
205-0509
Email:
chancellor.warford@fldoe.org
DPS: #
04-119
MEMORANDUM
To:
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District School Superintendents
Florida Principals
From:
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Jim Warford
Date:
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May 14, 2004
Subject:
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GOVERNOR BUSH SIGNS INCREASED STANDARDS FOR
ACCELERATED HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION
On Wednesday, May 12, Governor Jeb Bush signed into law an important educational bill.
Senate Bill 364 (SB 364), the Public K-12 Educational Instruction Bill, which was primarily
sponsored by Senator Lee Constantine and Representative Bev Kilmer, addresses three major
areas:
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Reading proficiency for K-3 students and increased assistance where deficiencies are
noted;
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Tenth grade Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) options; and,
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Higher standards for accelerated graduation programs.
JIM WARFORD
K-12 CHANCELLOR
325 W. GAINES STREET • SUITE 514 • TALLAHASSEE, FL 32399-0400 • (850) 245-0509 • www.fldoe.org
District School Superintendents
High School Principals
May 14, 2004
Page Two
Each of these areas is of great significance and will be addressed with considerable detail in the
days to come. The purpose of this memorandum, however, is to provide more information about
changes to the accelerated graduation programs.
As you know, there are multiple graduation pathways for Florida students. Two of these provide
for accelerated graduation. They are the three-year standard college preparatory program and the
three-year career preparatory program. SB 364 strengthens these programs in four major ways:
by increasing enrollment requirements, by making both course work and grade point average
(GPA) requirements more rigorous, by setting specific performance requirements for student
continuation in the program, and by providing guidelines for sharing more information with both
parents and students.
Some of the provisions of the bill include:
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Adding a requirement that a student must achieve at least Level 3 on FCAT reading and
mathematics and at least a score of 3 on FCAT writing on the most recent assessments
taken by the student prior to selecting an accelerated graduation option;
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Specifying that students who enroll in the college preparatory program must earn 6 of the
18 credits in International Baccalaureate (IB), Advanced Placement (AP), Advanced
International Certificate of Education (AICE), dual enrollment, or honors classes;
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Increasing the GPA requirement from 2.0 to 3.0 in courses required for the college
preparatory program;
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Requiring students who participate in the college preparatory or the career preparatory
program to take 1 credit of American history, 1 credit of World history, ½ credit of
American government, and ½ credit of economics;
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Mandating that students who choose the career preparatory option must earn 3 credits in a
single vocational or career education program + 2 credits in electives, OR 3 credits in
career and technical certificate dual enrollment courses + 2 credits in electives; OR 5
credits in vocational or career education courses;
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Removing the foreign language requirement from the career preparatory option;
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Reassigning students to the more traditional twenty-four credit program if they do not
score Level 3 or higher on the 10
th
grade FCAT writing assessment.
Page 2
District School Superintendents
High School Principals
May 14, 2004
Page Three
Please note one additional, very important element of this law change. All students who have
selected an accelerated graduation program before July 1, 2004, may continue that program. All
statutory program requirements that were applicable when the students made the program choice
will remain applicable to the students as long as they continue the program.
The Florida Department of Education is in full support of this new legislation. We believe that
its promotion of increased standards for the accelerated graduation programs will benefit the
students of Florida. We look forward to working with you on the implementation of these and
other requirements of the bill.
JW/hjr
cc: State Board of Education
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