Campbell comments on proposed changes to high school diplomas

Last week, the State Board of Education heard from parents, educators and administrators about their concerns with the proposed changes to Indiana’s high school diplomas. Those who spoke expressed their fears surrounding the lack of arts, language and history classes. The new standards do not meet the entrance requirements for universities, including Purdue University. 

State Rep. Chris Campbell (D-West Lafayette) released the following statement: 

“Last week, our educators expressed their concerns surrounding the new GPS and GPS Plus high school diplomas. Many members of my community, including teachers from West Lafayette School Corporation, are worried about their students' futures. The proposed diplomas don’t require a world history class or a foreign language and they decrease the credits in math and science. Indiana has always struggled to maintain a solid college enrollment rate while promoting workforce training. I believe that exposing students to multiple career and education pathways is important.

“These new diplomas do a 180 to completely focus on the workforce training aspect. They eliminated the Academic Honors diploma, which thousands of students use to prepare for college. The GPS and GPS Plus diplomas are not equivalent to the honors requirements.

“It is also notable that these diplomas don’t meet the entrance requirements for our universities. West Lafayette is a college town. Under this proposal, our high school students wouldn’t meet the admissions standards for Purdue University.”

The State Board of Education is accepting feedback on the proposed diplomas. All parents, students, educators and stakeholders are encouraged to share their concerns and can do so via the online form here from now until September