Allister Chang: DC needs to craft graduation requirements that help our students navigate an uncertain future

“My kids are not being prepared to keep up with a changing world,” a parent told me at a recent PTO meeting. As I’ve talked with families and educators about DC’s Reimagining High School Graduation Requirements initiative, I’ve heard versions of the same concern. 

The District’s current effort to review high school graduation requirements gives us a rare opportunity to rethink what preparation looks like at a time when change is the rule, not the exception. Families are not asking for flashy technology. They are asking for grounding in a time that feels unsettled. Parents want their children to develop the basic skills to navigate a world where information shifts quickly, job markets are evolving, and tools like artificial intelligence will shape daily life in ways none of us can fully predict. 

The DC Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) is the agency leading this review. OSSE’s draft proposal reflects meaningful community input and includes welcome updates that many families have called for, such as a required financial literacy course and expanded opportunities in career and technical education. OSSE’s Graduate Profile also outlines the competencies students will need to succeed, including information and media literacy as well as an understanding of emerging technologies.

But even with these updates, the underlying structure remains too rigid for the moment we are in. It still offers too few ways for students to demonstrate readiness if they show mastery through different but equally valid forms of learning. That approach may have made sense when the world was more predictable. It does not match the reality students are entering, where they will need to apply knowledge in unfamiliar situations and make informed decisions in environments that shift faster than our current framework anticipates.

This is where flexibility matters. Not a free-for-all where expectations differ wildly from school to school, but structured flexibility. We need more space for students to learn through their strengths and interests and to show readiness in ways aligned with the futures they hope to pursue. A student who demonstrates financial literacy through an economics or finance course should have that learning recognized rather than having to repeat it in a separate class. This kind of flexibility gives students, families and schools more room to adapt as the world changes, while keeping expectations consistent and strong.

There are clear and practical places to build these additional pathways. Students could meet part of their graduation requirements through high-quality internships, dual enrollment in high school and college classes, or career and technical sequences that tie learning to real-world applications. DC could allow students to demonstrate proficiency in certain subjects through performance tasks rather than seat-time alone. We could expand portfolio options so students can show what they know through in-depth, interdisciplinary work. These are rigorous routes, not shortcuts. They give students more than one way to reach the same bar, and they strengthen the connection between school and the world students are preparing to enter.

We should not have to look beyond DC to find approaches that anticipate the future. We have the opportunity to lead with our own innovative approach, designing pathways that reflect the realities our students are preparing to enter. 

There are models already in place elsewhere, however, that offer the flexibility needed to match this moment. For instance, Washington State’s “Graduation Pathways” give students several rigorous ways to demonstrate readiness, including performance tasks, dual credit, and career and technical sequences. These policies show how a state can maintain strong expectations while still giving students multiple ways to meet them.

At the same time, other countries are moving quickly to prepare students for technological change. Singapore has integrated digital literacy and foundational AI concepts across subjects, and the United Arab Emirates is introducing mandatory AI instruction in public schools. Their work demonstrates how education systems can adapt quickly when technology reshapes what students need to know. 

In DC, many educators are doing this work informally. I recently learned firsthand how transformative it has been for teachers at Garrison Elementary to use new AI tools to better tailor instruction to student needs. A recent D.C. Policy Center report noted that 38% of surveyed educators, some of whom work in DC, use AI tools weekly in ways that make their work more efficient. Our schools are already adapting to the realities of a changing world. The question is whether our new graduation framework will help students keep pace or hold them back.

Ward 2 Councilmember Brooke Pinto’s recently introduced legislation on artificial intelligence in education is a welcome step toward clearer guidance and responsible implementation. Her proposal calls for the District to develop guardrails and support systems for the use of AI in schools. This effort provides a timely foundation for broader conversations about how DC prepares students for an uncertain future.

The DC State Board of Education is now reviewing OSSE’s proposals and gathering community feedback. Public engagement sessions will take place at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library on Dec. 8, online on Dec. 11, and at the Benning/Dorothy I. Height Library on Dec. 16. These conversations matter. Graduation requirements are tremendously important, signaling the skills and dispositions we believe every young person in DC should carry into adulthood.

We cannot eliminate uncertainty from our children’s futures, but we can rethink how our schools prepare our students. That means creating more flexible ways for students to demonstrate readiness and being more deliberate about incorporating the technological tools and skills they will need to use wisely. We should use this moment to shape a system that matches the future our students are already stepping into.

Allister Chang is the Ward 2 member on the DC State Board of Education.

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