COVENTRY — Capstone or other special projects are now a prerequisite for receiving a high school diploma, but Coventry High School had been encouraging Capstone work by its students for years.

That initiative made the school a shining example in the national effort to raise standards and tighten graduation requirements, said state education officials.

In recognition of that, about two dozen national education policymakers visited the suburban high school yesterday morning to take a closer look at how the state’s rigorous new proficiency-based high diploma system and graduation requirements are handled in a large-school setting.

The visitors from the nonprofit American Youth Policy Forum talked with administrators and School Committee members about how Coventry High prepares its students to meet the tougher standards. The group also toured classrooms and spoke with students about their Capstone projects.

For the group, accompanied by members of the Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education, Coventry High was one of three stops during a two-day Rhode Island tour. On Wednesday they visited Providence’s Hope High School, and yesterday afternoon they went to Charles E. Shea Senior High School, in Pawtucket.

The organization regularly travels to other states to find out what approaches schools are using to improve learning. It shares that information on its Web site, said Betsy Brand, the group’s director, who noted that the organization is now particularly interested in high school proficiency-based graduation standards.

Rhode Island was on the itinerary because it is among 10 states selected to receive two-year grants from the National Governors Association to support its efforts in the secondary schools. The grants are underwritten by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

“Most states are going do some kind of test, or using statewide assessments,” said Colleen Callahan, a member of the Board of Regents, and the director of professional issues for the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers and Health Professionals.

Callahan noted that Coventry for years has had encouraged Capstones, completion of which added a Certificate of Mastery to their diplomas.

“We wanted to look at performance measures as well. If we aren’t the only one in the country, we are one of very few that are judging proficiency,” she said. “It is the cutting edge. We are looking at not only what kids know, but how they use what they know. I think that is what’s different. [Coventry] High School is a leader in that effort.”

In general, to meet the state’s new graduation requirements, Coventry requires that students accumulate 24 course credits, take standardized tests in 11th grade and show they have mastered key concepts and skills through a portfolio and a Capstone.

Brand added that what made Coventry High School interesting was that it is a large suburban school — with an enrollment of 1,800 including 407 seniors — that has been successful at using Capstone projects as well as portfolios, collections of work papers, tests and projects over the student’s four years, to demonstrate proficiency in core disciplines.

“It’s a tremendous amount of work to reach all those students and teachers with all those projects. We were curious to see how it looks and how it’s working in a very large high school,” Brand said. “We have seen an example of Capstone and portfolio working with a smaller number of students, maybe 30, 40 or 50, so the scale of Coventry was more interesting.”

The discussions were firmly centered on the graduation requirements, and questions poed by the visitors ranged from how teacher time is scheduled to what supports are in place to make sure all the students are making the grade.

“It’s been a long haul, many training sessions and disagreements,” said Coventry High principal Michael Hobin. “But we are trying to do what is best for the kids. It’s a work in progress. Our biggest struggle is getting the 407 [students] in these projects. Our big issue is size. We still have 92 students that have not finished their Capstone.”

Among the seniors who spoke with the policy makers was Michael Hoff, 19, who has collected canned goods for the homeless. He was asked what he thought of the graduation requirements.

“It was stressful. [But] the Capstone project is not going to go away,” he said.

lsparks@projo.com