by Emily Siansky ‘22

Sophomore Katie Roecklein shares an informative presentation about the process of human reproduction in her seventh period Health class.

MCPS has changed the health education graduation requirement starting with this year’s Freshman Class. Previously, students needed to take only a semester of Health, or half a credit. Now, the Class of 2025 and younger will need to take two semesters to fulfill the requirement.

The Maryland State Board of Education met on May 25 and made adjustments to the statewide graduation requirements. It was not until November 9 that MCPS adopted the plans to increase the Health requirement. According to the Executive Summary of the November 9 meeting, with the addition of the full-year Health class, students will need a minimum of 22.5 credits to graduate. This exceeds the state requirement by half of a credit.

The State Board of Education also adopted amendments for World Language and Technology classes. For the language courses, students must complete two credits worth of the same language. The technology education requirements may now also include computer science and engineering classes. The option for the advanced technology class will no longer be available.

In order to accommodate the increase in credits, MCPS has decided to cut down the requirement of elective credits from 2.5 to 2.0 credits. Examples of elective classes include those in music, arts, technology, and other core subject electives. To fulfill the new graduation requirement, students may find it more difficult to find space in their schedule for electives, particularly for those that are repeatable.

The music program, for example, uses different levels of classes to further the development and rigor of the program as a whole. Music teacher Johnathan Dunn explained that the music department usually has to compete with other courses, such as AP and double-period classes.

“As students seek to fill their schedules with required courses for graduation, the new requirements make it more challenging for students to enroll in music for multiple years as students, which is historically something frequently done here at Sherwood,” said Dunn. He also is worried that the change in requirement courses will impact the number of students who decide to participate in Rock ‘n’ Roll.
Similarly to the music program, art classes also have increasingly difficult and rigorous course loads as students reach more advanced classes. Taking these high level art classes allow students to improve their weighted GPA by taking honors and AP classes.

“When more requirements are added, it does make it more difficult for students to make space in their schedules for what they love,” said art teacher Michele Spangle. “There are students who pursue their art for several years and earn AP credits through completing a portfolio instead of taking a test.”
The new Health curriculum will now have more of an emphasis on social justice issues, harassment, and mental health as they relate to the prior Health A curriculum. The extra required semester of the course (Health B) will also focus on life skills that students will be able to better apply outside the classroom.
While Health A has been a required class for years, there is no prior Health B curriculum to use. Teachers and Montgomery County need to create a whole new curriculum for the class; one of the curriculum writers is Health teacher Heather Giovenco.

“It’s going to be pretty tough. I’m going to have to start from scratch. I’m hoping to use this summer as a way to build the curriculum. It also helped that I’m on the curriculum writing team, so I know at least some of it,” said Giovenco about adjusting to the new Health class. Even though Health B is not required for the Class of 2024 and older, it is still an option for students to take Health B next year as an elective credit.