Alabama schools just keep going round & round & round, but get nowhere. Change for the sake of change, but the decline continues. Much like the newspaper biz. Hmmmm....

The Advanced Diploma is not just for colleges. It is an affirmation of a student's pursuit of excellence and a simple way to recognize that when he or she may not be one of those recognized at the very top of the class.

I'm glad they are getting rid of the advanced diploma, it's just not happening soon enough. It does nothing and means nothing.

Jerry, instead of a snide comment that really tells us nothing, how about you enlighten us with your wisdom on how you think this is not better, but instead just "going in circles"? Not saying you are wrong or right, but I find it easier to pay attention to one's opinion when they offer something to back up their statements instead of just making one of cynical nature.

The article is dead on about the advance diploma when it comes to colleges. When admissions offices look at a student, they look at the whole transcript to see what classes were taken and at ACT scores. The list of classes taken and extracurricular activities tell college admission officers more about a student then the title of their high school diploma. I know many very smart students who took several advanced placement classes that did not get an advanced diploma because they chose to not take one or two of the classes required for the advanced diploma. I have discovered in recent years that more and more students that plan on going to college have realized that the requirements for an advanced diploma does not really meet their needs when it comes to their future academic plans.

For example, two years of foreign language is a requirement for the advance diploma, but many advanced students, such as those looking to be engineers or scientists, choose not to take foreign language so that they can fit in more of the advanced placement electives in math and science. If a future engineer has a schedule in which he has room for only one more elective and he has to choose between either Physics I to help with his future goal of being an engineer or Spanish I to help satisfy the advanced diploma requirement, which do you think he should take? This is especially true for bigger schools who have more electives to offer. Some of them, such as Hartselle High, have started a "zero period" before school normally starts so that these students can take some of these classes because a normal 7 period schedule is just not enough for these advanced placement students.

Calhoun, not sure about you but I am still waiting on Jerry to give us some great ideas.