Services and Diploma Options

DIPLOMA OPTIONS

The diploma decision will greatly affect your young person's future...

Successful transitions require lots of planning and decision-making.  One of the most important decisions is the type of high school diploma that the student will work toward.  The student and family make this diploma decision with the IEP team.  The decision is based on the student's needs and desired post-school outcomes.

It is important that you be fully informed about diploma options, because a student's opportunities for employment, further education and training, and military service after graduation may depend on the type of diploma that the student earns.  The diploma decision will greatly affect your young person's future.

The IEP team must make an initial diploma decision at the IEP meeting during your young person's eighth-grade year or during the school year of your young person's 14th birthday (whichever comes first).  The diploma decision may be changed later through an IEP meeting, if necessary.

IEP teams should consider diploma options in the following order, according to the student's needs and abilities:
*Standard Diploma
*Standard Diploma with FCAT waiver
*Special Diploma, Option 1
*Special Diploma, Option 2

Depending on the diploma option selected, some students may need to spend more than four years in high school.  A student with a disability has the right to stay in school until age 22, or until the student earns a standard diploma (or GED diploma), whichever comes first.  Students who do not meet requirements for a standard or special diploma may be awarded either a regular or a special certificate of completion, depending on their coursework.

STANDARD DIPLOMA

The standard high school diploma is the type of diploma earned by most students.  The student studies the general curriculum (the regular Sunshine State Standards).  The student may receive certain allowable accommodations to how the material is taught and how the student is tested, if needed.  The student must meet all the following requirements:
*The student earns the required credits in high school.
*The student earns at least a 2.0 grade point average.
*The student passes both parts of the grade 10 Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT).

STANDARD DIPLOMA WITH FCAT WAIVER

If the team determines that the FCAT cannot accurately measure the student's abilities, even if all allowable accommodations are used, the team may waive, or omit, the FCAT requirement for graduation.  The student may then graduate with a standard diploma with FCAT waiver.  To be considered for the waiver, a student must meet all of the following criteria:
*The student has taken the grade 10 FCAT with appropriate, allowable accommodations at least twice and has participated in the March administration of the FCAT during the senior year.
*The student has participated in intensive remediation in math and/or reading, if passing scores were not earned.
*The student is progressing toward meeting the minimum number of course credits prescribed by the state and district school board.
*The student has demonstrated the knowledge, skills, and abilities required by the grade 10 Sunshine State Standards.
*The student has an overall grade point average of 2.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale.
*The IEP team has determined that the FCAT cannot accurately measure the student's abilities, even if all appropriate, allowable testing accommodations are used.

SPECIAL DIPLOMA

Special diplomas are appropriate only for students who cannot learn all the same things non-disabled students learn, even with accommodations.  These students need modifications to the curriculum--changes in what they are expected to learn.

Students who are working toward a special diploma are often assessed using an alternate assessment instead of the FCAT.

There are two types of special diplomas:  Option 1 and Option 2

Special Diploma, Option 1

The requirements for a special diploma under Option 1 are as follows:
*The student must earn the minimum umber of course credits determined by the local school board.
*The student must show mastery of the Sunshine Sate Standards for Special Diploma.

Note:  Students who have been identified as visually impaired or speech impaired are not eligible for a special diploma unless they also have another identified disability.

Special Diploma, Option 2

The student fulfills an individually designed graduation training plan that includes employment and community living skills, meets related measurable annual goals and benchmarks or short-term objectives, and maintains employment for at least one semester.

The requirements for a special diploma under Option 2 are as follows:
*The student must be successfully employed for at least one semester, at or above minimum wage.
*The student must achieve all annual goals and short-term objectives related to employment and community competencies in the graduation training plan.
*The student must show mastery of competencies in his or her employment and community competencies training plan.

EFFECTS OF THE DIPLOMA CHOICE

Employers, adult education programs, career centers, the military, colleges, and universities all accept a standard diploma.  However, the military, colleges, and universities usually do not accept a special diploma.  So a special diploma may limit your young person's options in post-school adult life.

For this reason, the standard diploma should be starting point for IEP teams when making the diploma decision.  When in doubt, IEP teams are encouraged to choose the standard diploma.

Here are some questions the IEP teams should consider before making the diploma decision:
*Can your young person learn the skills required to meet the Sunshine State Standards?
*What accommodations for classroom work and tests does your young person need to meet the Sunshine State Standards?
*What modifications in course requirements does your young person need?
*Can your young person earn the credits and grade point average required to earn a standard diploma?
*Can your young person pass the FCAT?
*What are the district's requirements for the special diploma?
*If your young person cannot meet the requirements for a standard diploma, is he or she going to work toward special diploma option 1 or special diploma option 2?

As you can see, it is important to make the diploma decision carefully.  However, the decision can be changed if it turns out to be wrong for your child.  So if it is not clear whether your young person will be able to meet the requirements for a standard diploma, the IEP team may decide to have your young person try and if he or she is not able to meet the requirements, to change to a special diploma later.  If there is a chance that your young person will be able to earn a standard diploma, he or she should at least begin by working toward a standard diploma.

CERTIFICATES OF COMPLETION

With careful planning and monitoring of progress, most students with disabilities are able to earn either a standard diploma or a special diploma.  However, some students complete the required courses but are not able to meet the other requirements for a standard diploma or a special diploma.  These student may receive one of the following types of certificates, which are not high school diplomas:

*certificate of completion--College Placement Test (CPT) Eligible
*certificate of completion
*special certificate of completion

STATE OF FLORIDA DIPLOMA (GED DIPLOMA)

Students who are at least 18 years old and who have not earned a standard diploma may try to earn a STATE of Florida high school diploma.  To earn this diploma, the student must pass the Tests of General Educational Development (GED), The GED tests are written on a ninth-grade reading level.

This page was copied from "Transition Planning for Students with Disabilities:  A Guide for Families.  Florida Department of Education, Bureau of Exceptional Education and Student Services.

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