Authority: IC 20-19-2-8; IC 20-30-5; IC 20-30-10-2

Affected: IC 20-30-5-9

Sec. 4. (a) Except as provided in 511 IAC 6-7.2-20(h), for a student who enters high school in the 2006-2007 school year or a subsequent school year, at least forty (40) credits are necessary for high school graduation. Thirty-four (34) of the credits must be earned in the areas of study specified in subsection (b), and six (6) of the credits must be earned from courses in these and other approved areas of study.

(b) The thirty-four (34) required credits consist of the following:

(c) Courses that may be counted toward the required credits prescribed in subsection (b) are subject to the following provisions:

1. (1) Language arts credits must include a balance of literature, composition, and speech. At least six (6) credits of the language arts requirements must be from the English language arts area of study. Two (2) credits may be from:

   1. (A) business technology;
   2. (B) family and consumer sciences;
   3. (C) technology education; or
   4. (D) career-technical;
2. courses having predominately language arts content. For a student who successfully completes a Level III world language course, the student's school may waive two (2) credits of the language arts requirement.

3. (2) Social studies credits must include the following:

   1. (A) Two (2) credits in United States history.
   2. (B) One (1) credit in United States government.
   3. (C) One (1) credit in another social studies course, global economics, or consumer economics.

4. (3) Four (4) mathematics credits must be earned after a student enters high school. Mathematics credits earned before entering grade 9 may meet specific course requirements but not the credit requirements for graduation. These credits are considered elective mathematics credits. The purpose of taking mathematics courses before entering grade 9 is to give the student the opportunity to take an additional mathematics course or a challenging mathematics course in high school over an extended period. If the student completes any of the required mathematics courses before entering high school, the student must complete additional mathematics courses in high school. Mathematics credits must include two (2) credits in algebra I or integrated mathematics I unless a student has completed algebra I or integrated mathematics I before entering high school. At least two (2) credits of the mathematics requirement must be from the mathematics area of study. Two (2) credits may be from:

   1. (A) business technology;
   2. (B) family and consumer sciences;
   3. (C) technology education; or
   4. (D) career-technical;
5. courses having predominately mathematics content.
6. (4) Except as provided in 511 IAC 6-7.2-20(h), a student who enters high school in the 2012-2013 school year or a subsequent school year must earn two (2) mathematics or quantitative reasoning credits during the student's junior or senior year.
7. (5) Subject to subdivisions (6) through (8), the health and wellness credit must be from a course in the health education area of study that has comprehensive health education content.

8. (6) The health and wellness credit requirement may be waived for a student if the student's program includes one (1) of the following:

   1. (A) Three (3) credits from the following family and consumer science courses:

      1. (i) Child development and parenting.
      2. (ii) Human development and family wellness.
      3. (iii) Interpersonal relationships.
      4. (iv) Nutrition and wellness.
      5. (v) Preparing for college and careers.

   2. (B) Two (2) credits from the following health careers education courses offered through career-technical programs:

      1. (i) Integrated health sciences I.
      2. (ii) Integrated health sciences II.
9. (7) One (1) credit substitution of either a science, family and consumer sciences, or health and physical education credit may be used to fulfill the health and wellness credit requirement for a student who qualifies under the religious objection provision of IC 20-30-5-9 (hygiene instruction).

10. (8) Science credits must include two (2) credits in biology I. The four (4) science credits must include content from more than one (1) of the following major science discipline categories:

    1. (A) Life science.
    2. (B) Physical science.
    3. (C) Earth and space science.
11. Two (2) credits may be from family and consumer sciences or career-technical courses having predominately science content.

12. (9) Flex credits must include five (5) credits in any combination from the following:

    1. (A) Additional courses to extend the college and career pathway.

    2. (B) Courses involving workplace learning, which may include the following courses:

       1. (i) Career exploration internship.
       2. (ii) Preparing for college or careers, or both.
       3. (iii) Business cooperative experiences.
       4. (iv) Cooperative family and consumer sciences.
       5. (v) Industrial cooperative training.
       6. (vi) Interdisciplinary cooperative education.
       7. (vii) Marketing field experience.
    3. (C) Advanced career-technical education college credit.

    4. (D) Additional courses in:

       1. (i) language arts;
       2. (ii) social studies;
       3. (iii) mathematics;
       4. (iv) science;
       5. (v) world languages; or
       6. (vi) fine arts.

(d) The college and career pathway is recommended, but not required, if a student, after completing grade 11:

1. (1) transfers to a school accredited by the board from a school not accredited by the board, including a school outside Indiana; or
2. (2) initially begins course work under the Core 40 diploma and changes to the requirements of this section.

(Indiana State Board of Education; 511 IAC 6-7.1-4; filed Oct 20, 2005, 11:30 a.m.: 29 IR 802; filed Dec 21, 2010, 10:15 a.m.: 20110119-IR-511090383FRA; filed Jan 6, 2012, 10:24 a.m.: 20120201-IR-511110327FRA, eff Jul 1, 2012; readopted filed Oct 23, 2018, 2:37 p.m.: 20181121-IR-511180327RFA; filed Mar 11, 2025, 11:19 a.m.: 20250409-IR-511240220FRA, eff Jul 1, 2025)