Technical Honors Diploma (Indiana)

BRIEF SUMMARY

The Technical Honors Diploma is also known as the Core 40 with Technical Honors Diploma. Students who earn this diploma still meet the requirements for the Core 40 diploma, in addition to requirements specific to the Core 40 with Technical Honors diploma.

Twenty-first century graduates are expected to have more skills than ever before. Not only must they have strong academic skills in reading, math, and science, they must also be able to use these skills in a real world work environment. In Indiana, career and technical education (CTE) connects school and work by showing students how academic knowledge and technical skills help them reach their future career and personal goals. Recognizing the success of the career and technical program in students’ lives, Indiana created the Core 40 with Technical Honors Diploma. This diploma emphasizes rigorous academic standards and expectations along with vital technical skills. The Core 40 with THD prepares students to easily move from high school to college, the workforce, or elsewhere with a clear focus on their career goals. By earning a Core 40 with Technical Honors Diploma, students leave high school with strong academic and technical skills that give students multiple pathways to success.

KEY POINTS

The Core 40 with Technical Honors Diploma requires 47 minimum credits.
For the Core 40 with Technical Honors diploma, students must:
- Complete all requirements for Core 40.
- Earn 6 credits in the college and career preparation courses in a state-approved College & Career Pathway and one of the following:
  1. Pathway designated industry-based certification or credential, or
  2. Pathway dual credits from the approved dual credit list resulting in 6 transcripted college credits
- Earn a grade of “C” or better in courses that will count toward the diploma.
- Have a grade point average of a “B” or better.
- Complete one of the following,
1. Any one of the options (A – F) of the Core 40 with Academic Honors
2. Earn the following scores or higher on WorkKeys: Reading for Information – Level 6, Applied Mathematics – Level 6, and Locating Information – Level 5.
3. Earn the following minimum score(s) on Accuplacer: Writing 80, Reading 90, Math 75.
4. Earn the following minimum score(s) on Compass: Algebra 66 , Writing 70, Reading 80.
Advantages of a Core 40 with Technical Honors Diploma for students include:
- Preparation for both college and careers,
- Opportunities to earn college credits while still in high school,
- Opportunities to explore Indiana’s high wage and high-demand occupations,
- Ability to move more easily into their college major, saving time and money,
- Options to gain practical, real-world working experience,
- Chances to earn employer-recognized certifications,
- Valuable skills and training sought by Indiana employers.
With a Core 40 with Technical Honors Diploma all students can enter the world after graduation confident in their ability to succeed, regardless of their chosen path.
Some technical programs and apprenticeships might require the Core 40 with Technical Honors.

RESOURCES

SHARED WISDOM

Q: I am wanting some clarification: I have a current Senior who took the 3 required courses(Principles, Concentrator A, and Concentrator B) in the Construction Trades Carpentry NLPS Program at our Career Center last year and earned C’s across the board in them so he has completed the 6 required credits with the C average for Box 3 Grad Pathway purposes. He is taking the Construction Capstone this year as year 2 of that program at our career center. Do I need to include this Capstone course in factoring the C average for Grad Pathway purposes? My gut is “no” since he has the requirements completed successfully after last school year, but I want to be sure in case he were to earn lower than a C in the Capstone class. (CounselorTalk, December 2022)
- A: For the technical honors diploma, the information that you cannot “double dip” refers to the fact that you cannot use the same dual credits to meet both of the following highlighted requirements.
  - For the Core 40 with Technical Honors designation, students must:
    - Complete all requirements for Core 40.
    - Earn 6 credits in the college and career preparation courses in a state-approved College & Career Pathway and one of the following:
      - Pathway designated industry-based certification or credential, or
      - Pathway dual credits from the approved dual credit list resulting in 6 transcripted college credits
    - Earn a grade of “C” or better in courses that will count toward the diploma.
    - Have a grade point average of a “B” or better.
    - Complete one of the following
      - Any one of the options (A – F) of the Core 40 with Academic Honors
      - Earn the following minimum scores on WorkKeys: Workplace Documents, Level 6; Applied Math, Level 6; and Graphic Literacy, Level 5.***
      - Earn the following minimum score(s) on Accuplacer: Writing 80, Reading 90, Math 75.
      - Earn the following minimum score(s) on Compass: Algebra 66 , Writing 70, Reading 80.
  - For example: if a student earned 6 dual credits within their NLPS pathway to meet the requirement of pathway dual credits, they could not use those same dual credits for Option B in the Academic Honors options as that would be “double dipping”.
Award letters that are given for the Academic Honors and Technical Honors graduates: Principals and Superintendents have access to the letters through their IDOE Online accounts. Counselors don’t have access. You will have to get your principal to log into the website and then you should be able to easily find them
Accuplacer scores and Indiana’s Technical Honors diploma update from IDOE – April 2021
Students wishing to earn either the Indiana diploma with academic and/or technical honors designation may use dual credit as one of several options to complete the requirements. Dual credit courses that may be used for a diploma with academic or technical honors designation are indicated on the State Approved High School Course Titles Summary, published on the IDOE’s Course Titles and Descriptions web page. Any course on that list marked with an ‘X’ in the Dual Credit column has been approved to count for dual credit reporting for A-F Accountability and for BOTH diplomas with academic and technical honors designations if the student is enrolled in a college courses and earns transcipted college credits. To meet the dual credit option for the Indiana Diploma with Technical Honors designation, “pathway dual credits from the approved dual credit list resulting in 6 transcripted college credits” would need to be in a state approved college and career pathway. From the Dual Credit FAQ
Q: What courses may be used to meet dual credit options for the Indiana Diploma with Academic or Technical Honors designation?
- A: For the Technical Honors Diploma, dual credits must come from a state approved Career and Technical Education Pathway. Any course marked with an ‘X’ in the dual credit column on the State Approved High School Course Titles Summary document may be used to meet the dual credit options for either diploma with honors designation if the student is enrolled in a college course and earns transcripted college credits. From the Dual Credit FAQ
Q: What is everyone’s interpretation of how the Class of 2023 and 2024 can earn a Technical Honors Diploma under Perkins V?
- A: I just sat in on a Next Level Programs of Study webinar and they said that it should be more aligned with the Tech Honors diploma requirements so this should help!
- A: This spreadsheet is one that Tony Harl sent out last year as a transition THD chart for the years going from PV to NLPS.
Q: I am wondering if there is any discussion going on at the state level to align THD requirements with Perkins 5?
- A: If you follow the link https://www.in.gov/gwc/2437.htm to the CTE pathways page there is a link to the CTE Pathway courses approved for the 2023 Cohort with intro, related and advanced courses. These additional courses which don’t count toward concentrator status were added to help students meet the THD requirements with Perkins V pathways. We are also working on revising all of the Perkins V pathways through the Next Level Programs of Study which will easily align to the THD requirements. We will be sharing more information about these programs of study later this fall. (From Anthony Harl, Assistant Director of Career and Technical Education, September 2020)
From Anthony Harl, Assistant Director of Career and Technical Education, February 21, 2020: Please review the following guidance for Technical Honors requirements and completing CTE courses prior to grade nine (9). The guidance on Technical Honors requirements includes information on how to utilize Perkins V pathways for the 2023 cohort. The document also includes information on completing CTE courses prior to grade nine (9) and clarifies which courses are eligible for CTE funding when completed prior to the ninth grade.
Technical Honors Diploma – credits needed with regards to the pathways and Perkins V (Counselor Talk, March 2020)
Industry Based Certifications list for Tech honors: https://www.doe.in.gov/cte/inters; click on Secondary CTE Assessment Codes
An updated form has been provided by the Commission (CHE) to obtain information for students who are working toward a Core 40 with Academic Honors or Technical Honors diploma. In order for students to be eligible for any financial aid incentive, schools must report those diplomas via ScholarTrack. You only need to collect this information for students who are not already on your school roster in ScholarTrack.
Q: I have been told that a student cannot earn both an Academic Honors Diploma and a Technical Honors Dioploma.
A: On the Graduate report (GR), you can report students to the state as being a recipient of both the AHD and THD. From what I’ve heard it can only be reported once on the CHIPS report (to the Indiana Commission for Higher Education). Public schools receive money ($1,000) for each student who earns an honors diploma (either AHD or THD). If a student earns both the AHD and THD, the school only receives the money one time. Starting with 2015 graduates, schools will receive additional money ($400) for any student who earns an AHD or THD and is receiving SNAP, TANF, or Foster Care Assistance (from Amanda Culhan 9/15)
Q: How do I include both on our HS transcript?
A: If you’re not able to include both on the transcript, you might ask your SIS vendor about this. If programming doesn’t allow for it, you might add the 2^nd honors diploma notation elsewhere.. perhaps in the notes section (from Amanda Culhan 9/15)
Q: How do schools interpret the current Honors diploma requirement of “Earning a grade of a “C” or better in courses that will count toward this diploma?
A: It’s my understanding that is a local decision. We only count “C” or better, not “C-“
How much [does] the Accuplacer cost and who pays for it for the Tech Honors Diploma for your school? (From Counselor Talk, December 2017)
- Ivy Tech and Vincennes have accounts with College Board, which provides Accuplacer. Some teachers or designated people at a school give Accuplacer by a deadline (Sept. 1 for Vincennes; Nov. 1 for Ivy Tech) to see if students are qualified to earn certain dual credits. You might want to ask your nearest Ivy Tech campus if students could take Accuplacer there. Ivy Tech gtves Accuplacer constantly for determine placement in English and math classes.
- Don’t forget about AP or Dual credits. If students take 2-AP, 2-DC, 1-AP/1-DC that qualifies as well…just note that if a student does not get an industry cert–and they go the DC route they need 12 dual credits..
- Since we have to administer the Acculpacer anyway for students who do not meet the established PSAT scores, could you add on any of your tech honors kids to that testing? I’m not sure if there would be an additional charge or not.

CONTENT FEEDBACK

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