PROVIDENCE — This year’s high school seniors are the first class that must meet the requirements of a new diploma system in order to graduate, a sea change that many districts are struggling to navigate.

To promote awareness of the new system and ensure the districts are complying, Governor Carcieri says he will visit as many high schools as possible over the next several months. He also plans this spring to ask members of the PreK-16 Council, an executive committee of education and business leaders, to review how the high schools are applying the new system.

“This is the last piece in a whole accountability system we have been putting into place over the last several years,” Carcieri said in an interview in his State House office yesterday. “I’d be less than honest if I said it would be easy to put this in place. Some districts are struggling. There is a lot of angst about senior projects, how it is done, how it should be graded and weighted in determining the graduation requirements.”

Based on information sent to the state Department of Education this summer, about a quarter of districts appeared to be well prepared for the changes, about half had some elements in place, and the final quarter had not made much progress.

“There are still some districts out there saying, ‘If we just hold our breaths, this will pass,’ ” said Peter McWalters, state commissioner of elementary and secondary education. “For some districts, it’s a matter of will. For others, it is also a matter of capacity.”

The diploma system requires students to show they have mastered skills and subjects in a variety of ways. Over their high school years, students must complete at least 20 courses in six core areas (English, math, science, social studies, the arts and technology), and demonstrate proficiency on state tests in math and English in their junior year. In order to graduate, seniors then must complete two out of three options offered by the state — a senior project, a multiyear portfolio of their work, or end-of-course exams. Districts were required to tell education officials earlier this year which two options they had selected.

It is up to the districts to decide how much weight the classes, end-of-course exams, portfolios and senior projects have toward graduation, said McWalters.

Regulations permit districts to count the 11th grade standardized tests in English and math as just 10 percent toward the high school diploma. (Standardized tests in science will be added for the Class of 2009.) But the Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education is considering increasing its weight to 33 percent, McWalters said, a move supported by the governor.

“I want to have a strong emphasis on proficiency,” Carcieri said. “I understand that students have different strengths and should be able to demonstrate them. But at some level we do a disservice when we graduate kids who don’t have the ability to read or write or compute.”

State education officials say they have begun a review of each district’s plan to comply with the new requirements, and McWalters will send out letters in January granting “preliminary approval” or “approval withheld” based on the quality of the plans. There is no punishment for districts that do not receive preliminary approval.

Districts will continue to decide who graduates, McWalters said. But by 2010, state officials will be able to review student work and intervene if a student does not meet requirements for a diploma, McWalters said.

“I’ve met with the principals and the superintendents, and they know it’s a nonnegotiable if a kid can’t read or write. So they will be holding back kids, holding back diplomas,” he said. “And then the discussion becomes, ‘OK, what do you have in place to help the student, what recovery strategies do you have?’ ”

To help districts adjust to the new system, the state education department has offered guidance and training to districts since 2004, the year after the diploma system regulation passed, said Roy Seitsinger Jr., director of middle and high school reform.

About 500 teachers received professional development training on the new requirements this summer. Seitsinger said almost all districts had taken advantage of the department’s assistance, but declined to say which districts had declined the offer, or which districts had fallen behind and were struggling the most.

“We need to stay committed,” Seitsinger said. “This is a real transformation of the system, and we need to stick with it.”

jjordan@projo.com