States Loosening 'Seat Time' Requirements

States have established an array of policies in recent years to free schools from having to award academic credits based on "seat time," with the goal of making it easier for struggling students to catch up, exceptional students to race ahead, and students facing geographic and scheduling barriers to take the courses they need.

Thirty-six states have adopted policies that allow districts or schools to provide credits based on students' proving proficiency in a subject, rather than the time they physically spend in a traditional classroom setting, according to the National Governors Association. One state, New Hampshire, has required high schools to assign credits based on competency, rather than seat time, while others have encouraged schools to do that or allowed them to apply for waivers from state policy to do so.

In addition to their desire to increase academic opportunities for students, state policymakers are eager to boost high school graduation rates by re-engaging struggling teenagers through online or alternative courses, and potentially putting them on the path to a two- or four-year college degree or career certification.

Merely "having a seat in a class doesn't guarantee you anything," said Jason Glass, the director of the Iowa Department of Education. He and Iowa's Republican governor, Terry Branstad, are asking state lawmakers to create a system that allows students to prove their ability in different subjects in a variety of ways—such as through tests, demonstrations of skills, and the completion of projects.

"Right now," Mr. Glass said, "we allow kids to move on by demonstrating very minimal competencies in these courses." The concept is "still sort of cutting edge," he added, "but we want Iowa experimenting with it."

Others, however, wonder whether advocates of moving away from seat time are more interested in trying to boost graduation rates through online and other means than in keeping an eye on the instructional quality of those courses.

"A teacher inspires students. A laptop can't do that," said Rita M. Solnet, a member of Parents Across America, an organization that is critical of efforts to shift educational services away from the public to the private sector. She suggested that lawmakers in her state, Florida, and elsewhere are among those putting more focus on improving graduation rates than on maintaining the academic quality of the new online learning programs they are creating.

Florida has an extensive virtual education program through the Florida Virtual School, the country's largest state-sponsored virtual school, and this year, the Republican-controlled legislature has been considering a measure that would require that students assigned to teachers with a continually low performance rating be told of virtual education options.

The risk in the push for such programs is that public officials, in an effort to improve graduation rates, will allow online providers to present easy material to students so they can "breeze right through it," Ms. Solnet said.

Beyond Carnegie Units

For roughly a century, the standard method for awarding American students academic credit was through Carnegie units, a measure based on student time spent in school. The goal of that measurement was to standardize the amount of instruction students received and were credited for across subjects, for college admission and other purposes.