Indiana spends about $7 billion a year on K-12 schools and claims to be a pioneer in education reform. Yet thousands of its high school students are graduating without the basic math, reading and writing skills needed to succeed in college.
That’s what a series of reports from the Indiana Commission for Higher Education have shown since the state started tracking data on the college-readiness of its students nine years ago. And that’s why the commission voted last August to approve proposed changes to Indiana’s high school diploma requirements.
But at a meeting of the Indiana State Board of Education last month, members voted unanimously to stop those efforts.
“The board noted the percentage of Indiana high school graduates requiring remediation in college has dropped by 13 percent between 2011 and 2014,” reported WBIW-AM 1340.
Though there was year-over-year, statewide improvement of 5 percentage points in the number of students who graduated from public high schools and entered college without needing remediation in 2013 — the commission’s most recent data — 33 percent who graduated with the state’s required “college preparatory” diploma, known as Core 40, had to take at least one remedial course after enrolling at one of Indiana’s state-supported colleges.
Fewer than 50 percent of students enrolled in remedial courses complete them. Those who do find their path to graduation delayed or derailed. Two-thirds of students in four-year colleges needing remediation fail to earn their degrees within six years. Fewer than 8 percent of students in two-year colleges earn their degrees within four years.
A new College & Career Ready Diploma would replace the Core 40 Diploma and increase the credit mandates from 40 to 44, under the proposal approved by the Commission for Higher Education.
Gov. Mike Pence made college readiness one of his top priorities when taking office. “The need to remediate our high school graduates is a failure for our students,” he said.
And the Indiana College Readiness Reports these past nine years suggest Pence’s call for stiffer high school standards could increase college graduations. The State Board of Education and our General Assembly must act.
They can raise graduation requirements by approving Indiana’s new high school diplomas.