State Could Soon Implement Changes To High School Diploma Requirements

Source: (PHOTO: WISH-TV)

INDIANAPOLIS — A bill approved by the state legislature in 2023 set out to “reimagine” high school for Hoosier students.

It has yet to be implemented by the State’s Education Department headed up by Education Secretary Dr. Katie Jenner, and the state has until December to implement changes to some of the diplomas that Hoosier high school students can receive.

Jenner says the current diploma requirements are outdated and that a new proposal gives students the option to choose a path that emphasizes vocational or educational skills. Under the proposed changes Indiana would implement what would be called a “GPS dipoma” or “GPS-plus”, which would be similar to the current Core 40.

The GPS diploma is said to be geared to be more flexible for students who are considering something other than post-secondary education after high school, such as an apprenticeship in the trades. It would allow students, if they choose, to take certain dual-credit or college-level classes at 9th and 10th graders, thus opening up more flexibility for education geared towards their desired career path in 11th and 12th grade.

Though she is fully supportive of students who wish to pursue a career in the trades, State Rep. Victoria Garcia Wilburn (D-Fishers) tells WISH-TV she feels the new diplomas are cutting off too many essential courses that she says students need.

“I’m concerned that my Hoosier graduates wouldn’t be able to receive acceptance into Indiana University or Purdue [University],” Wilburn said. “Two universities that attract students from all over the globe.”

She said the new structure would take away requirements for four years of math as well as a foreign language among others.

“The emphasis of the bill was to ‘reimagine high school’,” Garcia Wilburn said. “I believed at the time that we already had significant structures in place in partnerships with our community colleges that would really allow those students that desired a more vocational pathway to pursue that.”

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