Most Md. 11th Graders Have Not Met Service Mandate, Report Says

By Jessica Portner

Two-thirds of Maryland's 11th graders have not completed the state's requirement that they perform 75 hours of community service before they graduate next year, a state report shows.

The Class of 1997 is the first to have to satisfy the service-learning mandate, which legislators approved in 1993. Maryland is the only state to require community service of its students before they can graduate from high school. (See Education Week, Nov. 23, 1994.)

The state school board's report shows that so far more than 30,000 of the state's 46,000 juniors have not finished the hours of community service they will need to earn their diplomas next year. More than 20,000 of those students were making progress, the report says, and the remaining 10,000--nearly a quarter of the class--have made no headway...