Workforce diploma option is a change that’s long overdue

The traditional path to high school graduation has always been focused on preparing students for postsecondary education opportunities. For those high school graduates not planning on attending a university or college, this essentially meant they were on their own as far as finding a job. Lacking the skill sets needed for most industrial work, those graduates far too often had to settle for lower paying jobs.

It took decades for school systems to realize their minimalist approach to vocational education, the few non-core “shop” or “vo-tech” classes that were offered, was not meeting a critical need. Fortunately, that changed as a growing emphasis on career and technical education offered students a wide and ever-changing variety of career opportunities right out of high school.

The next step in this educational transformation begins in the fall when students can choose between two diploma options – Option A (traditional college-ready diploma path), or Option B (Workforce Pathways Diploma), which allows students to pursue a career-tech focused curriculum.)

The main difference will be number of math and science classes the students will have to take. For the college-ready diploma path, students will have to take four math and four science classes. The workforce diploma only requires two math courses and two science courses, but students opting for this path must earn three credits in an approved course of career and technical education. All three must be in the same course of study.

How does this affect Franklin County students? Superintendent Greg Hamilton said eighth-grade students who will be entering high school this fall will automatically be placed on the traditional diploma pathway.

At the end of their 10th-grade year, those students can then decide which diploma pathway they wish to pursue.

The new diploma option is the logical next step in graduation requirements.