State Rep. Ralph Massullo isn’t a teacher, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t understand what schools and students need.
Massullo, R-Lecanto, recently filed a bill, HB 311, that would create alternative paths to graduating with a standard high school diploma. Those paths would be designed to best fit students who don’t score well on the two standardized tests necessary for graduation — the grade 10 English/Language Arts (ELA) assessment and the Algebra 1 end-of-course (EOC) exam — or who would prefer to pursue vocational or technical training instead of a college degree.
“Lately, as a business person, I’ve noticed that not everyone is ready for college right after high school,” Massullo said. “And we need people with vocational training.”
The bill creates two alternative pathways:
A student can earn an industry-recognized credential or certification approved by the State Board of Education. That student must also earn 13 total points on the ACT WorkKeys assessments, which include Applied Mathematics, Locating Information, and Reading For Information tests.
A student can demonstrate mastery of the standards usually measured by the two tests required for graduation through a portfolio, which would include “quantifiable evidence” of mastery. Such portfolios may include classwork, class assessments and projects.
As the alternative pathways would lead to a student attaining a standard high school diploma, the bill would also likely result in increased graduation rates, as students unable to pass the required tests are able to use those pathways to avoid them.
“We hope to lift graduation percentages, improve workforce readiness, and allow students to have a better path to a rewarding career,” said Massullo. “It’s a young, critical age in high school — it’s demoralizing to fail, it can lead to antisocial behavior. I’m not saying it’s going to keep people out of the system, but could improve the psyche of a lot of kids.”
Citrus County School Board member Thomas Kennedy agreed.
“The bottom line we hear all the time is ‘we need vocational options for our students.’ The only way to do that is to have multiple pathways in high school,” he said.
“The struggle is ... we can’t put them in the right courses to help them develop skills, because at the end of the day we can teach Algebra 1 any way we want — but unless they pass the (Florida Standards Assessments), they don’t graduate,” Kennedy said. “We now have to add remediation courses … it means that most of the time, those kids aren’t taking vocational courses. The kids who would be taking and successful in those courses are in remediation courses (so they can pass the tests).”