Study to Determine the Effect of Graduation Requirement Changes on Student Performance, Attitudes, and Retention in School

On July 31, 1979, the Yakima School Board of School District 7, Yakima, Washington, approved a graduation policy change increasing the total number of credits required from forty-eight to sixty-six. This change required that eighteen credits be transferred from grade nine of the junior high school setting. This study attempts to assess the impact of the change upon the performance and attitudes of ninth grade students. Indications are that students accepted the changes positively, felt they were working harder, and, in two schools showed a decrease in the failure rate. A look at the general achievement level of students and socio-economic distribution of the other two schools seems to indicate that lower achieving students and/or students from lower income families were not affected or were affected negatively