Wyoming signs off on revamped grad rules, sends overhaul to governor

Wyoming’s State Board of Education has approved a rewrite of high school graduation and assessment rules and shipped the package to the governor’s desk, capping a months-long process that drew public comment but only minor tweaks, Gillette News Record reports.

The board unanimously advanced its drafts for Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 after deciding not to reopen formal public comment. Members said they folded in a few clarifications from the feedback they received, but nothing that rose to the level of “substantive” changes — which would have forced them to restart the process.

Chapter 3 is the big one for students and families. It keeps the same course counts by subject that Wyoming students must complete to graduate, but gives districts a new tool: competency-based equivalency exams. In plain terms, if a student can prove they’ve mastered the material on a vetted exam, that can stand in for a passing grade in a traditional class. The rewrite also spells out that coursework can include in-class or out-of-class experiences, and it requires districts to adopt policies for building student success plans.

That “or” sparked the liveliest debate of the day. Several board members said they’d like to see “and,” requiring every student to mix classroom learning with real-world experience. Chair Mark Mathern pointed to a recent meeting with business leaders at the governor’s office, saying the message from the room was unmistakable: employers want graduates who’ve done something outside the school walls before they walk the stage. But others warned a mandate could punish small or remote communities where jobs and placements are scarce.

“There are high school communities in the district I live in that there virtually is no jobs in that town,” board member Joseph Gaspari said, noting that some students would face long drives just to find part-time work.

The board’s attorney added that flipping “or” to “and” would almost certainly count as a substantive change, triggering another round of public comment. In the end, the language stayed as “in-classroom or out-of-classroom learning experiences.”

The student success plan requirement drew broad support earlier in the meeting as the board discussed how districts assess and support students on the path to graduation. That ties into the second prong of the overhaul: reorganizing Wyoming’s assessment rules. Rather than bury K–12 testing systems inside a chapter focused on high school graduation, the board moved them into their own chapter for clarity. One parent who weighed in during the comment period thanked the board for the cleanup, saying the old setup confused families by mixing K–8 assessment rules with high school graduation policy.

What happens next is up to the governor. If he signs off, districts will begin the work of implementing the new flexibility on competency exams, updating local policies for student success plans, and ensuring their coursework options reflect both classroom learning and approved experiences beyond the school day — without making that a one-size-fits-all mandate.