Indiana education officials approved a final plan to overhaul the state’s high school diploma options and graduation requirements on Wednesday, Dec. 11. Photo by Getty Images.

By Casey Smith
Indiana Capital Chronicle

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana’s high school diploma came one step closer to a total revamp on Wednesday, Dec. 11, after state education officials approved a redesign plan that has been months in the making.

Paramount to the new plan 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.

A first draft of the diploma model was made public in March. Input from Hoosier educators, parents, students, higher education institutions, business officials and other stakeholders helped drive the several other iterations of the plan that followed since.

Indiana’s State Board of Education approved the latest version of the redesign during its December meeting in Indianapolis. The diploma rule now heads to the state attorney general for final sign-off.

“This has been, gosh, an all-hands-in-the-circle effort to get to this place,” Indiana Secretary of Education Katie Jenner said at Wednesday’s board meeting. “This has certainly been a long time coming for the board. We have spent hours and hours and hours listening to the many comments and ideas and solutions, from many Hoosiers around our state. We were absolutely able to improve the draft from the end of March … to today. On behalf of the board, we cannot thank Hoosiers around the state enough for joining … for really helping us get to a great place for today for the future of Indiana students.”

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 2025, who are entering eighth grade this fall.

But there have been bumps in the road.

Earlier redesign drafts faced multiple rounds of critiques from Hoosier educators, who worried that the model would broadly exclude certain course requirements, like those in history, foreign language and fine arts. Officials at multiple Indiana colleges and universities had also warned that the previously proposed high school diplomas would not meet university admission requirements.

Jenner emphasized that the state board took those criticisms to heart and made adjustments to the diploma plan, accordingly. More than 9,400 online public comments were submitted during the drafting process. Hundreds more attended in-person feedback forums.

In doing so, many of the concerns have since been reversed. The final model approved by the board is supported by all of Indiana’s public colleges and universities, as well as more than a dozen state education associations.

“This was really hard, messy, sometimes unpopular work, but where it landed is a really, really, really good place for kids,” said board member B.J. Watts. “This was really good work … you invoke change here.”

A ‘totally updated’ high school experience

The overhaul has been pitched by state officials as a way to boost Indiana’s dismal college-going numbers, but more critically, to also ensure that all Hoosier students — college-bound or not — graduate from high school with high-value, work-ready skills.

“Fewer Indiana students are enrolling in higher education, and few are graduating,” Jenner said, adding that many Hoosier high schoolers overall “are graduating without the skills needed to secure some rewarding career opportunities.”

In the first draft of the diploma redesign — released earlier this year — high school students in public and private schools across Indiana would have earned a “GPS Diploma” or “GPS Diploma Plus.” That plan was scrapped, however, following waves of criticism from Hoosier teachers, parents and students.

The second diploma structure, unveiled during a State Board of Education meeting in August, included a baseline diploma, with minimum requirements for all students.

The baseline differs slightly from the current Core 40 diploma, requiring 42 credits instead of 40. Students would then have flexibility to choose classes above that to earn “readiness seals” for enrollment, employment or enlistment that correspond with their future path of continued higher education, workforce or military service.

Depending on the type of schedule a student is on — traditional seven periods or blocks — they can earn between 56 and 64 credits.

The final diploma plan also included several other tweaks.

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