IPS says it’s ready for state requirement to offer college credit, career training

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. 

As Indiana prepares to require high schools to offer both college-level courses and work experiences, some educators share a concern: Is it feasible for high schools and for students?

Beginning this year, all high schools must offer or have a plan to offer the College Core — a stack of 30 credits that can be transferred to all the public and some private colleges and universities in the state. Additionally, the state is considering a requirement that students complete some work experience in order to earn a new advanced diploma by 2029.

Around 2,500 students statewide last year earned a diploma with both Academic and Technical honors, indicating that they completed both advanced coursework and some career preparation courses. While that’s the closest current offering to the proposed advanced diploma and the College Core, it’s still missing more than 75 hours of work experience that will be required of students.

Educators around the state have raised concerns that schools will not be able to find the staff, transportation, and workforce partners needed to implement the changes. They also worry that when they pursue the higher-tier diploma, students will struggle to balance college-level classes with work.

“The focus on what comes after high school is valuable,” said David Marcotte, executive director of the Indiana Urban Schools Association. “To expect our current public schools to implement with fidelity these new requirements with the existing resources is not doable.”

But some districts feel confident they can achieve this balance.

At Indianapolis Public Schools, the state mandates have coincided with a years-long effort to create more career pathways at its high schools while at the same time making advanced coursework available to more students. The result is that the district now feels prepared to help students meet the new requirements.

“If we frame it as going to college or going into a career, we’re missing the mark,” said Austin Dodd, the district’s director of high school academies and pathways. “Even if you go to college, you have to have a career eventually. You’re going to college for this career.”

IPS and Ivy Tech offer dual credit programs

A total of 261 Indiana high schools currently offer the College Core; those that don’t will have to submit a report about their plans to do so to the Commission on Higher Education by October.

Two of four IPS high schools — Arsenal Tech and Crispus Attucks High School — already offer the College Core. And beginning next year, George Washington will allow students to earn their associate degree in general studies concurrently with their high school diplomas using the College Core credits as a starting point.

IPS is awaiting approval from the commission to allow Shortridge High School to continue offering the International Baccalaureate (IB) program to all students instead of the College Core, said Melody Coryell, IPS’ executive director of postsecondary readiness. Shortridge also offers an IB diploma focused on career readiness.

While not all students will opt to take all 30 credits of College Core, or earn an associate degree, the goal is to make college-level courses easily accessible to all students — even those on a career-focused path, Coryell said.

IPS students begin exploring these paths in middle school, and can choose a high school based on the concentration it offers. Arsenal Tech, for example, offers 18 career academies, including Animation and Film Production, Culinary Arts, and Engineering.

The goal is for each of these career and technical education (CTE) programs to also offer an accompanying work experience, Coryell said, in line with the new diploma requirements. Several already do.

Districts weigh transportation, staffing shifts for diploma changes

One of the primary concerns for schools adjusting to the new graduation requirements is how to transport hundreds of students to career sites in the middle of the day.

While urban schools may have an advantage due to their proximity to employers, education watchers say all schools will need more routes, drivers, and buses, especially to make opportunities equitable for students who don’t have their own transportation.

The state has estimated that it will cost schools around $500 to place each student in a work-based learning opportunity, and another $1,200 to transport them to career sites. This could mean a total cost of up to $45 million annually, according to the Indiana School Boards Association, though that may not take into account existing career experience programs.

“To do this at a huge scale will take a shifting of resources,” Coryell said.

But Coryell said some solutions have already been considered and piloted, like virtual work experience, or deputizing teachers to supervise school-based work experiences.

Another pressing challenge is hiring enough teachers for the classes and guidance counselors to help schedule students’ classes and work experiences.

Someone must also be responsible for students’ safety and progress in the workplace, Marcotte said.

“With hundreds of students out in the community at various workplaces, who’s supporting those students?” Marcotte said. “If students are just placed and not checked up on and not provided support in the workplace, this system won’t work.”

And to teach college-level dual credit courses, teachers must have graduate-level coursework. Meanwhile, to teach career programs, teachers typically need experience in that field.

The combination of the new diploma requirements — which have fewer required courses — with the college core means that schools might need fewer teachers, but require those to have more graduate training. This puts pressure on schools and smaller academic departments, said Chris Lagoni, executive director Indiana Small and Rural Schools Association, to hire or pay for teachers to obtain advanced degrees.

“It’s a double-edged sword saying we want this but also this,” Lagoni said.

Some overlap is possible, Dodd said: An MBA may allow a teacher to teach both a college-level dual credit course and a career course.

IPS used some of its federal pandemic relief funding to help existing staff earn the credentials necessary to teach dual credit courses, Coryell said. It has also worked with Teach Dual Credit Indiana, which offers free graduate courses in six content areas.

High schoolers juggle college courses and work

Students and parents have also raised questions about how students would manage the workload of college-level courses with off-campus jobs, sports, performing arts, and other obligations. The new diploma proposals would also require students to demonstrate civic knowledge by participating in extracurricular activities and clubs.

To make work opportunities meaningful, employers may want students to spend several hours a day on site, said Lagoni, which could present issues if coupled with a long bus ride.

“If your employer wants you there for 6 hours and you’re not getting back till 5 p.m. … the structure of high school is going to be fundamentally changed,” said Lagoni.

Nonetheless, many students juggle both advanced courses and work experience.

“They say, I don’t want to give up my CTE pathway because I want to explore that as well.

But they want the rigor in their core content,” said Dodd of IPS students.

In most cases, it’s possible for students to do both, Dodd said, though some career programs — like cosmetology — have requirements that make scheduling more challenging. Typically, they take College Core classes to meet their core content requirements, like English and math, and then use their elective periods to take CTE courses.

During her last year of high school, Kimari Johnson had a packed schedule.

Mornings were for high school classes at Crispus Attucks High School in Indianapolis, while in the afternoons, she worked on college-level courses toward her associate degree.

Two days a week, her mother, Kellee-Marie Johnson, drove her to work after school as a Certified Nurse Aide (CNA). And on the days Kimari didn’t work, she played soccer or ran track — which she described as a break before going home to study.

The work was overwhelming at times, she said. But it was also an opportunity to explore what she wanted to do after high school. For her mother, these free opportunities through Indianapolis Public Schools would help defray the future costs of college.

The payoff was threefold: Kimari graduated with a high school diploma, an associate degree from Ivy Tech, and a CNA license. She’s now headed to Southern University to study business management.

“I would say take any opportunity that is presented to you,” Kimari said of her advice to other students. “Take those classes seriously, because not everyone gets this chance.”

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.