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PHOENIX - State and district educators are taking steps to intensify senior year for high school students, including lengthening the school day and offering more challenging and attractive classes.

The move comes after decades of allowing seniors to take easier classes and leave school midday.

Educators say allowing seniors to coast no longer makes sense in a state that has come under fire for underachieving students and in a global marketplace that demands more skills.

Next month, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne will ask lawmakers to increase full-time student hours from a minimum of four a day to five. If approved, that change would pressure schools to find ways to keep seniors in school longer.

And, the Arizona State Board of Education is studying whether to increase the minimum 20 credits required to graduate. That would prevent high school students from jamming the credits into their first three years and then taking only a few classes their senior year.

Some schools already require more credits. For example, Peoria Unified School District requires 28.

And several districts, including Peoria, are already pushing for full school days for seniors.

In addition to requiring more credits, Peoria is considering more advanced online classes and additional courses that allow students to get college credit.

Glendale Union School District plans to add internships and fieldwork that match a student's career interests, such as learning in hospitals or at engineering firms.

And Mesa Unified School District is considering requiring students to complete two semesters of a subject to earn extra credit for accelerated courses.

At Tolleson Union High School District, Superintendent Kino Flores is working to add options for seniors to keep them on campus all day. Flores not only worries about their academic potential going to waste but also the temptations of an empty afternoon.

"It's all about them wanting their wings to soar," Flores said. "As much as we want to believe in them, students do not always make good decisions."

The senior day already is growing longer for students who attend special classes to help pass or excel on Arizona's Instrument to Measure Standards, a required exam to earn a high school diploma.

Janessa Caro, a senior at Westview High School in the Phoenix suburb of Avondale, said she likes getting out of school at noon.

Caro is taking English and government this semester, and will graduate with the required 22 credits.

"I just like having the free time off," Caro said. "It makes me feel like an adult. I can pass these classes easily. I know I'm going to graduate."