December 2024/January 2025
Photography // Laura Arick and submitted
Last December, the Indiana State Board of Education (SBOE) unanimously approved a new high school diploma rule aimed at maximizing the value of students’ four-year experience. This decision follows over a year of stakeholder feedback and statewide collaboration. Indiana Secretary of Education Dr. Katie Jenner highlighted the importance of incorporating public input, emphasizing that the new diploma increases flexibility, allowing students to personalize their education and gain work-based learning opportunities and valuable credentials.
Examining the New Diploma Rule
The diploma rule was shaped through extensive public engagement, with more than 8,000 comments during the first draft and 1,300 during the second. The final diploma maintains the structure introduced in August 2024, providing a base diploma with the option to earn readiness seals in areas like enrollment, employment and enlistment. These seals, developed in collaboration with higher education institutions, businesses and the military, offer students a pathway to success while enabling them to adjust their goals throughout high school.
Implementation resources, including course lists, work-based learning guides and credential opportunities, will be developed through 2025. The new diploma requirements will take effect for the class of 2029, with schools able to opt in by the 2025-2026 school year. As the process moves forward, SBOE and IDOE continue to seek feedback from educators and parents to ensure smooth implementation and provide necessary support.
I spoke with Carmel Clay Schools Assistant Superintendent Dr. Amy Dudley and Carmel High School Principal Dr. Tim Phares to discuss the impact of the IDOE’s final approved draft on the district. Dudley and Phares emphasized the district’s commitment to preserving its well-established coursework rigor and ensuring students are thoroughly prepared for life after graduation.
“Students now need to earn 42 credits—up from the current 40—with this new diploma,” Dudley explained. “There are some additional required courses. One is ‘Preparing for College and Careers,’ which we will be offering in middle school—for high school credit—to our students. We already offer the now-required courses ‘Computer Foundations’ [middle school course] and ‘Personal Finance’ [high school course].
Phares continued, “The unique thing with this [new diploma rule] is it begins with the graduating class of 2029, so for the next three years, we will be running with two different graduation requirements. The timeline of implementation is very quick. We are preparing our current eighth graders to start their course selections with these new requirements. The message that I’d like to get out to our families and community is Carmel High School is maintaining the same rigorous curriculum that we have always offered.”
Dudley added, “We want our kids to be able to explore not only what they think [they] might be interested in but also [have] those opportunities to do multiple explorations and [have] the room in their schedule to make that happen. I think the ‘Preparing for College and Careers’ [course] will especially be an opportunity that will allow our students to really define what their interests are in a more intentional way, and I think that is one of the positive things we can take away from this [new diploma rule].”
The Impact on Academic Honors and AP Courses
Phares addressed concerns about the status of AP courses and exams under the IDOE’s new diploma rule, emphasizing that AP classes remain a critical component of the high school curriculum. The updated diploma requirements are designed to provide greater flexibility, but AP courses continue to serve as a valuable option for students seeking academic rigor and college credit. Phares and Dudley highlighted that the district is working to ensure AP offerings align with the new readiness seals, giving students opportunities to showcase advanced coursework as part of their graduation pathway.
“When you look at the Enrollment Honors and Honors Plus seals, they are comparable to the academic honors diplomas,” Phares stated. “We offer several AP courses and corresponding exams, so these are things that our students are already doing—we’re just shifting a little bit for the new honors and honors-plus requirements. We’re increasing the number of tests that are being given for AP, and we’re still increasing the number of students that are passing at a 3, 4 and 5, which is over 92%.”
Phares continued, “The universities and colleges that we’ve spoken with have made their statements that they are not lowering, lessening or increasing their standards [for admissions] and will continue reviewing a student’s transcripts, so again, we will maintain our rigor and will not be lessening any expectations on our end. Regardless of the pathway, whichever the three it is [enrollment, employment or enlistment], our students will leave Carmel Clay Schools prepared for what will come next.”