Indiana University High School ( IUHS ) first opened its "doors" five years ago this November. Since then, it has admitted 1,640 students and boasts 131 graduates, many of whom have gone on to prestigious colleges and universities.
Accredited by the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement, the high school enables students to earn their high school diploma entirely at a distance. It is administered by the Indiana University School of Continuing Studies ( SCS ).
"Indiana University High School offers a versatile, rigorous, and flexible 109-course curriculum," says SCS dean Judy Wertheim. "The curriculum is broad enough to meet a range of student capabilities and aspirations and yet possesses sufficient depth to appropriately challenge and enrich."
Students in the program live throughout Indiana, across the United States, and abroad. They come from a broad array of backgrounds and circumstances. Typical enrollees include homeschoolers, athletes and performing artists, students pursuing a U.S. diploma while living overseas, and others for whom a conventional high school program is not appropriate.
Kathleen Boggess is a counselor at Bloomington High School North (BHSN) who has worked closely with BHSN students in the fine arts. She says, "The Indiana University High School program allows flexibility for students who are pursuing a high school education and continuing their fine arts opportunities. These students can study as their schedules allow and in their own time frame. This program adds a degree of flexibility not possible in the traditional high school setting."
Peter Friedericks graduated from IUHS earlier this year. His parents moved from the United States to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, when Peter was a child. Friedericks attended school at the Haven of Peace Academy in Dar es Salaam until the 10th grade. He completed the 10th grade through a British program, then decided to transfer to Indiana University High School. "The director of the Haven of Peace Academy suggested Indiana University High School as one of the best distance education programs," says Friedericks.
Friedericks liked Indiana University High School because the program allowed him to work at the pace he wanted. "I am a quite driven person, and the program allowed me to work at a fast rate," he says. "As a result, I was able to graduate a year early from high school." Moreover, Friedericks liked the dual-credit courses he took. Dual-credit courses are university-level courses that students can take to earn high school and college credit simultaneously. "I particularly enjoyed the dual-credit courses," he explains, "because of the way they challenged me. They pushed me to succeed and work harder."
Friedericks graduated from Indiana University High School earlier this year. This fall, he enrolled at Indiana University Bloomington. He believes his IUHS experience well prepared him for college. "Indiana University High School prepared me for college work better than 'normal' high school," says Friedericks. "In normal high school, you would most likely get a project or something to do in your classes. In Indiana University High School, the typical assignment asks you to read and to write papers," says Friedericks. "This is much like college."
Friedericks is not the only IUHS graduate who has been accepted at the college of his choice. Other graduates have been accepted at institutions that include Auburn, Brown, Columbia, Harvard, and Northwestern, as well as a host of state universities.
One of the reasons IUHS graduates succeed in getting into the college of their choice, says IUHS director Dan Bopp, is because Indiana University High School maintains the highest level of academic integrity. Its curriculum, he explains, complies with the competencies and proficiencies established by the Indiana State Department of Education. Moreover, Indiana University High School courses have received national awards, as well as core-course accreditation from the National Collegiate Athletic Association. And finally, Indiana University High School is converting its print-based courses to a Web-based format to provide the most effective delivery of learning opportunities.
"Indiana University High School's 41 state-certified instructors and three academic advisors, as well as its administrators and support staff, remain committed to the exciting and challenging possibilities presented by distance education," says Bopp. "As we confidently enter our sixth year of service, Indiana University High School is proud to uniquely contribute to Indiana University's identity as a truly great, truly public university."
