It’s about time that Florida shed itself from worthless high school “completion” documentation called the “Certificate of Completion”. As of July 1, 2025, this document no longer exists, according to the Florida Department of Education.
This “high school completion option” was created about a half century ago as part of the Florida Accountability Act. Then, Education Commissioner Ralph Turlington grappled with what to do about kids who went through Florida’s public education system, yet were unable to achieve what had then been legislated as the Florida “Minimum Student Performance Standards” (MSPS).
It took a few years and a nationally significant court case (Debra P v Turlington) to empower Florida to withhold high school graduation as an inalienable right. It made a big difference because non-graduates are ineligible for admission to college, among other social hurdles.
Many states throughout the nation were struggling back then with this new notion of “educational accountability”, most noteworthy were New Jersey, Michigan and yes, Florida. Parents and politicos alike were demanding that there had to be more meat on the bones, real proof that a child’s 12 or 13 years in school (including kindergarten) yielded real achievement. There had to be meaning, and value attached to the typical high school diploma.
Somehow, that word “minimum” in the new 1976 law was a hard pill for some to swallow, especially politicians who were seeking re-election. Many demanded there be a prize for warming a classroom seat, lo those many years, went the thinking. It had been the American way after all.
Yet, in no cases as of 1976 and onward until 2024, was the Certificate of Completion recipient considered a bonafide high school graduate. (In Florida, an individual who has passed the General Education Development exam is also considered a high school graduate.)
Fairly quickly, it came to mind that a proportion of the student body would not, could not, and should not be obligated to achieve all the performance standards. Those were the children who were recognized as being Exceptional Students, (once upon a time called Special Education Students) and had official Individual Educational Plans (IEPs) developed around their unique learning and lifestyle needs.
Separate standards were developed and approved for them, and upon their mastery, a graduating Exceptional Education student received a special diploma versus a standard diploma. As an example, “reading” had been considered an essential skill all along, yet a blind child could not be expected to “read” – defined at that time by the powers-that-be, as eyes seeing words on a printed page. Severely visually impaired or blind students instead would be expected to be successful using large print, or Braille or even demonstrate full communication comprehension through listening.
The range of student disabilities is long and complex, including: visually impaired, hearing impaired, emotionally disturbed, physically impaired, autistic, learning disabled, and so on… all clearly evaluated and determined by IEPs. By the late 1970s, Florida became the national leader in addressing special needs assessments and graduation alternatives. Other states flocked to Florida conferences to gain understanding in how to juggle such a delicate moral and legal issue.
It’s taken nearly half a century for the Florida Legislature to at last stand up and address this issue: merely meeting attendance criteria (achieving less than a 2.0 grade point average) is insufficient for being called any sort of high school completer – Standard Diploma, Special Diploma, sure, but Certificate of Completion, no.
There are and have been for many decades, a variety of solid alternative routes for the kids who couldn’t achieve the standards. One is the General Education Development Exam (GED), and the other is Adult Education programs, often intertwined in some school districts. The new law also enables students to attend one additional year of high school, hopefully through remediation, becoming able to earn at least a 2.0 GPA and pass performance tests.
Finally, clarity can be attained as to who is a Florida high school graduate, and who isn’t.
Phil Grisé, PhD, is former coordinator of Special Assessment Programs, Student Assessment Program, at the Florida Department of Education, and a retired communication professor at Florida State University.
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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: At last: An end to a sham Florida educational certificate | Opinion
Reporting by Phil Grisé / Tallahassee Democrat
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