The Indiana Dept. of Education is attempting to quickly push through HS diploma changes effective for the class of 2029 (currently finishing 7th grade). There is great concern among Indiana school corporations and those parents/community members who are paying attention (most are not aware this is coming down the pike). One school corporation has put together a good video highlighting some of their concerns about the changes: link.
One of the concerns is that the proposed new diplomas will set Indiana HS graduates up to not have the minimum courses needed to meet admission requirements for most colleges, including Indiana colleges and universities like Purdue and IU. There will no longer be an academic honors diploma option, which right now many college-bound students choose and ensures they are prepared for admission to most universities. With the new proposed diploma options, students are given broad choice over their course selection in jr/sr years. While they could choose to take the courses they will need to meet college admission criteria, this places a large responsibility on the student and the parents to proactively know college admission requirements early on in HS in order to make appropriate selections, as well as on over-loaded HS guidance counselors to ensure families understand. I am greatly concerned of the impact to HS students who may be from under-resourced schools/have parents who are unaware of college admission requirements/have inadequate guidance counseling.
The changes include but are not limited to:
Foreign language not required
Only 3 semesters of social studies required (1 year of US history and 1 semester of government) - this is a reduction from 6 semesters required to 3 semesters required and elimination of world history/geography and economics
Only 4 semesters of science required - reduction from current at least 6 semesters
No arts requirement (currently 1 yr required for academic honors diploma)
The timeline of these changes is also a concern as the first class of students to fall under the new diplomas will be registering for their freshman classes in around 10 months. There will be little time for high schools to prepare and adjust.
Indiana parents should be carefully following this plan and its developments, and parents from other states should take note as well. Indiana touts that they are the first to make these kind of changes, but it’s always possible that similar changes could happen elsewhere. The new diplomas seem to prioritize workforce development while de-prioritizing well-rounded education and college readiness. While not opposed to expanding options for students who do not plan to attend college, there are many logistical concerns about how schools can implement this successfully.
They are currently collecting feedback on this proposal: link
I’m not sure. Their idea seems to be a very flexible approach where “Every student is prepared for personal and professional success, regardless of their future path: employment, enrollment, or enlistment leading to service.” They want more students to develop employability skills/experience and earn a credential before graduating high school. However, the actual core education piece and college readiness seem to be taking a backseat to their desire for workforce development among high schoolers.
I am not in Indiana, but I read extensively about this proposed change. It doesn’t seem problematic to me. I think it actually makes Indiana diplomas more like many other states.
It is true that it will be possible for a student to graduate from high school without having all of the typical requirements for a selective four-year college. But the students who graduate without those requirements should have some other high school experiences (some type of certification, apprenticeship, etc.) that will put them on track for alternative post high school success.
And, if that doesn’t work out, going to a community college and a transferring into a four-year university when the student has a better idea of what they are hoping to achieve is a very cost-effective path.
I guess what will be really important is for administrations and guidance counselors in high schools and middle schools to be very explicit with students and families about what their options are. Our high school in Massachusetts has multiple paths like the ones described in my reading about Indiana’s proposed system. Starting at the end of 8th grade and continuing through 9th and 10th grade, there are multiple meetings, emails, discussions with students & families to help them think about and plan out what path makes the most sense for them and what steps they need to take to be on that path.
Workforce development and college readiness map out remarkably similar, despite what the anti-elitism crowd would have folks believe.
You don’t need to read Chaucer or Shakespeare to develop reading comprehension skills- but a curriculum which de-emphasizes or lowers the bar on language arts skills is going to doom its graduates to under-employment. You don’t need calculus to develop quantitative skills- but a HS graduate who is underprepared in math is not going to fare well in the current economy.
Look at the skills required for the higher paying jobs in the auto industry right now; the difference in pay between an RN and a LPN; the difference in career path for a certified electrician vs. a “jack of all trades” handy-person who can mend screen doors and lay concrete or set tiles. The higher paying roles- even for non-college grads- require a solid base of K-12 skills- reading, writing, math, computer literacy.
College is not the be-all and end-all. But a HS grad who cannot interpret a bar graph, convert kilos to lbs, or understand a 25 page technical manual is going to struggle in the workforce.
Even with the higher standards we are graduating kids who cannot read at a 9th grade level. lowering the standards seems counter-productive.
I agree. These are the graduation requirement at my daughter’s California high school. It does require fine arts, but otherwise, seems pretty in line with what Indiana is proposing. Although the social studies requirement is noticeably different.
English: 40 Credits
One (1) year 9th grade English 1 or ELD
One (1) year 10th grade English 2 or ELD
One (1) year 11th grade English 3, Eng. 3 Honors or ELD
One (1) year 12th grade English electives, AP Lit, or ELD
Social Studies: 30 credits
10 credits of World History in 10th Grade
10 credits of US History in 11th Grade
5 credits of US Government in 12th Grade
5 credits of Economics in 12th Grade
Mathematics: 20 credits
Any combination of math classes for 20 credits.
At least one class must be Algebra 1/Math 1 or higher.
Your D’s HS requires 6 semesters of social studies. It looks like Indiana used to require 6 semesters, but the new requirement appears to be half that (3 semesters).
(For comparison, my kids’ CA HS requires 8 semesters of social studies for graduation: one year of ethnic studies with some 9th grade level history, one year world history, one year US history, one semester US Gov, one semester economics.)
And in a society where a large percentage of people get their news from questionable sources, the idea that we’re graduating kids who haven’t taken civics, don’t understand what the first amendment does and does not protect; don’t know what happened in WWII is actually terrifying.
I’m OK with kids not understanding the War of 1812. But Separation of Powers? How does a bill become law? Who is eligible to vote and why-- and why were a high percentage of the population disenfranchised earlier in our history? These are critical components of understanding our democracy (or not understanding- to our peril).
I’d rather give up gym and health classes than cut back on social studies.
I don’t see the problem. What you’ve described is pretty similar to what we have here. There is only one type of high school diploma, no arts requirement, no foreign language requirement. I’ll admit I don’t know how many semesters of various other subjects are required for graduation, but the schools are very clear on what’s expected if you plan to go to college. If you are on the college track, you have 4 years each of English, social studies, science, math and foreign language. This is well publicized. Everyone must also take 4 years of gym. You get one elective per year. Everyone seems to figure it out and most kids go to college.
From the original post, it looks like Indiana will be requiring a year of US History and 1 semester of government. So presumably they are supposed to get some civics?
But it’s hard for me to see how kids are supposed to understand US history if they don’t get any world history.
Are there other states that currently have no specific course requirements for 11th or 12th grade except for two semesters of math and four semesters of English?
I know that high schools are concerned about the logistics piece of work-based learning/certification/apprenticeships - including availability of placement in our many rural areas, transportation, and tracking.
Note: most IU campuses other than Bloomington have the Core 40 requirements as the admission requirements. However, Columbus does not specify that the HSD needs to be Core 40.
For the Core 40 diploma, 5 credits (1 credit = 1 semester) total are currently required from directed electives chosen from world languages, fine arts, and career & technical education.
The Core 40 diploma is required to graduate currently in Indiana, with many college-bound students doing the honors diploma version. There is also a technical honors version. (I understand IDOE’s desire to simplify). The general HS diploma requires an opt-out process.
This is the part I worry about. I don’t live in Indiana, but I do know that even in my kids’ relatively well-resourced school full of wealthy students, kids have to be very intentional to make sure they’ll have the classes they need to get into college (and the counselors are spread very thin).
I also see moves like this as part of an overarching trend in certain states to chip away at education. For example, this past year, the NC Legislature passed a law lowering graduation requirements to 22 credits (from a former minimum of 28 and typical full courseload of 32 credits). Individual school systems are prohibited from having more stringent graduation requirements than the state dictates, and schools are required to advertise to students that they can leave school in 3 years (public schools are also forced to advertise private and charter schools to their students, which is another facet of the same issue)
In California, there does seem to be a trend of districts in non-high SES areas to align their graduation requirement course work that of the entrance requirements for CSU and UC, but this is less likely to be the case for high SES districts. Likely that this is the case because students in high SES schools are likely to hear about college preparation from peers and parents, while those in non-high SES schools, particularly first-generation-to-college students, are less likely, so making the high school graduation checklist the same as the state university entrance requirements keeps their college options open in that realm.
It seems unnecessarily complicated that the various state universities in Indiana have differing entrance requirements, and the Core 40 with academic honors is not aligned with the flagship state universities (less math, more world language and arts). It does not look like the proposed graduation requirements would simplify this either.