Indiana officials are seeking additional feedback from Hoosiers as they continue to craft and finalize a plan to overhaul the state’s high school diploma options and graduation requirements. Photo by Getty Images.

By Casey Smith
Indiana Capital Chronicle

INDIANA — As state education officials pump the brakes on a plan to overhaul Indiana’s high school diplomas, concerns from Hoosier teachers, students and families are mounting over the proposed graduation requirements.

With the deadline fast approaching for the State Board of Education to finalize the changes, state leaders are asking for more statewide feedback — including what’s expected to be a lengthy public forum scheduled for next week.

Although the original plan was for the state board to vote on the new diplomas in September, Indiana Secretary of Education Katie Jenner said at a board meeting last week that — in response to feedback received already — the process is slowing down, at least somewhat.

Jenner said the board will hear a revised draft proposal at the August meeting, followed by a second round of feedback, including a public hearing, before the board releases a final proposal.

Under a law passed by Indiana legislators in 2023, the state must adopt new diploma requirements by December.

Schools could choose to opt in and start offering the new diplomas as early as the 2025-26 academic year. The new diplomas will take effect for all Hoosier students beginning with the Class of 2029, who are entering eighth grade this fall.

Paramount to the new plan, according to state officials, is maximized “flexibility” for students to personalize learning pathways and experiences, including with college courses taken while still in high school, as well as the ability to count internships, apprenticeships, military experience and other work-based learning toward their graduation requirements.

While the plan answers repeated calls for the state’s curriculum to better prepare students for post-high school employment and boost the state’s declining college-going rate, the draft plan has garnered increasing criticism for its exclusion of certain course requirements, like those in history, foreign language and fine arts.

Some educators are also worried about plans to eliminate the current Academic Honors diploma, linked to college-going.

What’s Proposed, So Far?

Currently, Hoosier students can work toward one of numerous diploma designations, including the general, Core 40, academic honors, or technical honors options. Some schools additionally offer the International Baccalaureate diploma, which is dependent on successful completion of specific assessments and examinations during grades 11 and 12.

State education officials conceded that the existing diploma system is outdated and confusing for both parents and students. Jenner previously said it especially lacks options for students to get hands-on training or earn high-value credentials, given the various course requirements. The move now, however, is to be less “course-obsessed.”

As laid out in the proposal, Indiana’s future diplomas would include the “Indiana GPS Diploma” — a more flexible, personalized version of the current Core 40 diploma — and the “Indiana GPS Diploma Plus.”

Three transcript seals added to their diplomas would allow students to show they’re ready for enrollment, employment or enlistment.

Ron Sandlin, the state education department’s senior director of school performance and transformation, said the proposed seals would focus on readiness — but not eligibility. Each seal track would have required courses, and students could earn multiple seals and apply seals to both diploma types.

Students, Parents, Teachers Push Back

But students and parents expressed worries about the model during last week’s SBOE meeting, which lasted more than four hours.

That included a trio of Hamilton Southeastern High School students who pleaded for state education leaders to keep fine arts courses as part of the diplomas’ foundational skills requirements.

All rising seniors and members of the high school’s marching band, each highlighted the benefits of music education and asked that marching band, jazz band, symphony, orchestra, drama and choir be considered co-curricular classes — which could count towards foundational graduation requirements — rather than extracurricular activities.

Dylan Balka, another of the students, further asked the board to count band activities as work-based learning experiences under the new diploma requirements for juniors and seniors.

Separately, numerous foreign language teachers have spoken against the lack of credits awarded to students who take foreign language courses under the new proposal. Many colleges require foreign language credits or entry.

And parents like Leslie Wells, whose two children attend Perry Township schools, said they’re concerned that requirements under the “GPS Diploma Plus” won’t be attainable for many students.

Rep. Sheila Klinker, D-Lafayette, additionally called for board members to create diplomas that prepare non-college-bound students, but still offer an equivalent to the current academic honors diploma for those who want to pursue higher education.

Doing so, she said, ensures those students are “competitive applicants for university admissions and prospective scholarships.”

How Hoosiers Can Weigh In

Hoosiers are invited to offer a first round of online feedback through July 30. So far, the state has received more than 6,300 digital feedback submissions.

An in-person public hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. the same day in Conference Rooms Four and Five of the Indiana Government Center South in Indianapolis.

SBOE officials emphasized earlier this month that all comments given online will be reviewed and weighed equally as those provided in-person.

Rep. Sue Errington, D-Muncie, has additionally scheduled a town hall meeting for Friday to discuss the restructuring of Indiana’s high school diploma system.

The meeting, open to the public, will run from 6 to 8 p.m. at Kennedy Library, located at 1700 W. McGalliard Road in Muncie.

In a news release, Errington said the proposed plan “would completely erase” the state’s existing diplomas and reduce requirements for multiple subjects — “entirely restructuring high school education as we know it.”

She cautioned that there is no academic honors diploma under the plan and said neither of the proposed diplomas’ baseline requirements meet admissions requirements for Ball State University — located in her district — or other in-state universities.

Rep. Victoria Garcia Wilburn, D-Fishers, is also holding two public listening sessions for district constituents to learn about and discuss the proposal. One focused on Carmel Clay Schools and Washington Township Schools took place Monday evening, and another — from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. on July 29, in the Hamilton East Public Library in Fishers — will center around the Hamilton Southeastern School Corporation.