It is essential to get school committee approval of a school's exhibition system well in advance of implementation to ensure that the designed system will be adopted and supported with sufficient resources. This approval process should also include the adoption of appropriate policies and procedures that outline the student and system requirements of an exhibition as they relate to each district's graduation requirements.

Things to Consider

If a school has adopted exhibitions as one of its School-Wide Diploma Assessments then there is a possibility some students will be denied a diploma because they fail to successfully complete an exhibition. Accordingly, it is important that the policies, protocols, and procedures guiding the exhibition system are approved and adopted by the school committee. Some issues that a school/district may want a school committee to address as part of their policy framework are:

• The required elements for an exhibition in the district
• Due process rights for a student who does not complete an exhibition
• How plagiarism and/or misrepresentation of fieldwork or the product will be addressed
• Support structures that need to be in place for students and teachers
• Resources and professional development needed for an exhibition system
• District liability with regard to students working and traveling off site