Deliberation about changes to Indiana’s high school graduation requirements

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The Indiana Department of Education is currently rethinking high school graduation requirements after a lack of any substantial changes for decades.

The last major update took place in the 1980s. The proposed change involves the new Graduates Prepared to Succeed (GPS) diploma, emphasizing the addition of experiential and work-based learning.

The preliminary structure for the GPS diploma includes five key characteristics, all designed to encourage the success of students.

These attributes include academic mastery, career and post-secondary readiness, communication and collaboration, work ethic, and civic, financial, and digital literacy.

James Seitz, Principal of John Adams High School, explained that this structure is quite different from the present model. “Currently, the classes are pretty well laid out. There are some options for students to take, but there will actually be fewer required course that students will have to take and more options, with the goal of having students pick a path at a sooner time in their life, so that way they can get prepared, whether it’s college or career or the military after high school.”

The early decision necessary in selecting a path under this new plan worries some educators.

Catherine Henderson, Counseling Director at Clay High School, commented, “A concern I have is that it seems like a lot of decisions need to be made early on, middle school even, that’s when students are doing that, and it seems to follow more of the European model, where students are tracked, pushed in a direction early on. 'Am I going to a career, or am I going to college?' And so, flexibility is so key when talking about adolescents or even adults. We change our minds all of the time and graduation pathways implies lots of flexibility. You know you can take lots of different paths, and that’s wonderful, but is that flexibility really there?”

Before adopting this new structure for high school education, school leaders are asking for input from all stakeholders, including parents, teachers, and counselors.

Henderson has already provided some feedback, in hopes that more emphasis will be placed on the development of students as citizens, rather than just future workers. “It’s about more than just what you need to produce workers in the state of Indiana. It’s also about well-rounded citizens and human beings. And I think that’s missing.”

For this new plan to be successful, Seitz emphasized that structural additions are necessary to put the plan into action. “There’s going to be some type of a shift and changing of types of teachers you need. We are going to need to make sure that we have dual-credit teachers, teachers teaching our International Baccalaureate Courses, and our AP courses. We are also going to make sure that we have to have teachers and individuals who are involved with community partnerships. And so, we are really excited because this is going to give us a greater opportunity to partner with the community, with different businesses, with different institutions, with higher ed, so that way we can get our students across the finish line.”

If you have any input to share on the proposed change, the Indiana Department of Education is currently seeking feedback, prior to adopting the new structure in late summer or fall.

You can find the feedback form on the IDOE's website.