INDIANAPOLIS — State Rep. Ed DeLaney is asking for input on the state's plans to overhaul high school diplomas.
During this year's legislative session, lawmakers passed a bill to update diploma requirements.
The new requirements put more emphasis on workforce development and real world experience for students who may not want to go to college.
However, there's a major concern that the diploma requirements don't meet the minimum for acceptance at many universities.
DeLaney is asking parents, students, and educators to click here and share their thoughts on the proposal.
What are these new requirements?
According to the Department of Education, the new diplomas would match Indiana's graduation pathways and the five benchmarks for an Indiana Graduate Prepared to Succeed (GPS).
Right now, Indiana high schoolers can pursue a number of different diplomas including general, Core 40, academic honors or technical honors options. There are also International Baccalaureate diplomas at certain schools.
Instead, the proposal would create just two diplomas:
- the Indiana GPS Diploma
- the Indiana GPS Diploma plus
Regardless of which diploma a student was pursuing, 9th and 10th grade would be focused on "essential knowledge and skills." Those include foundational courses in subjects like English, math, digital literacy, and civics.
In 11th and 12th grade, students would have much more flexibility to personalize their educations. There are formulas based on "points" that students would need to earn through course completion, testing, and certain activities outside a classroom.
The GPS Diploma has fewer requirements in math and social studies than the current Core 40 diploma.
The GPS Diploma Plus would require at least 75 hours of "high-quality work-based learning." What that would entail still hasn't been decided by state officials.
Educators voice concerns
There are concerns that the changes would hurt with one of the Department of Educations big pushes: increasing college enrollment.
The proposal eliminates Indiana's Academic Honors diploma. More than 80% of students who get that diploma, go on to attend higher education.
Teachers are also concerned that the basic Indiana GPS Diploma doesn't meet the minimum requirements of many universities. The GPS Diploma Plus has heavy work requirements, which could leave students with less time for academics.
The principal of Bluffton High School told our partners at the Indiana Capital Chronicle "We need a good replacement for the honors diploma as soon as possible. ... This replacement needs to be a pathway that a substantial number of our students, like 40%, can use."
