DISTRICT HAILS SENIOR PROJECTS.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Twenty-eight Antelope Valley Union High School District seniors did not graduate in June with their fellow classmates because they did not complete a senior project, a new graduation requirement.

The relatively low number - about 1 percent of the 2,505 students who made up the 2002 graduating class - has district officials hailing the senior project program as a success.

``It's not a great hindrance. There were lots of students who were offered employment during their presentations. It is a huge success as far as the community is concerned,'' said Anne Yale, district senior project coordinator. ``The school district considered it a success because of the amount of community involvement we got.''

The senior project, mandatory districtwide for the first time this past school year, requires researching a career topic, writing a paper and making a presentation before a panel of judges.

More than 500 people volunteered to serve as judges at Palmdale High School alone, and many said they were impressed with students' presentations, Yale said.

Yale obtained senior project graduation statistics from all the district's comprehensive schools, except Littlerock High School.

Antelope Valley High School had three seniors who did not graduate because of a failure to complete a senior project; Highland High School had six; Lancaster High, six; Palmdale High, 12; and Quartz Hill High, one.

The number of of nongraduates reported overall was Antelope Valley High, 50; Highland High, 54; Lancaster High, 35; Littlerock High, 35; Palmdale High, 84; and Quartz Hill High, 19, records show.

Other reasons for students not graduating include not acquiring the required amount of credits, failing a core subject such as English, civics or economics, and not passing a writing proficiency test.

Students who did not graduate had the option of attending independent study summer school to finish their senior project or make up credits to obtain a diploma, Yale said.

The district earlier this year made changes to the senior project requirement in response to students' complaints that a mandatory seminar class was a waste of time.

The class will be made available online, and students may be exempted from it - though not from the required project itself - based on test scores, grade-point average, attendance, and recommendations from teachers and employers.

Seniors in December attended a board meeting to criticize the senior project. Nearly 600 signed a petition against the projects.

Much of the students' criticism was directed at the senior seminar class, which is a mandatory course and which students said offered information they mostly knew already or didn't care about.

The senior seminar class was designed to offer support and guidance to students in completing their senior projects.

Senior projects are not new, having been required for students in the Law and Government Academy program at Highland High School for the past five years.

Two years ago, seniors at Lancaster High had to complete a special project as part of a pilot program.