Indiana is changing what it means to graduate ready. Students show postsecondary readiness through Graduation Pathways today, and starting with the Class of 2029 the new Indiana diploma adds optional readiness seals for enrollment, employment, and enlistment and service, each at an Honors or Honors Plus level, with a stronger emphasis on employability skills and work-based learning.

The challenge: a plan without exploration

The new structure gives students more ways to show they are ready, but it also asks them to choose a direction earlier. That means more planning conversations for counselors who already carry high caseloads. When students arrive without having explored their options, the conversation becomes a checklist instead of a plan.

What students tell us

Across the 13th Year™ network, students are most open early, and their options narrow as graduation gets closer:

  • 32%of 9th graders are weighing more than one path after high school. By 12th grade, 16% are.
  • 53%of 9th graders are interested in more than one career field, compared with 33% of seniors.
  • 11%of 9th graders say they are not sure yet what comes next. Only 2% of seniors say so.
  • 23%of students planning on college are also considering another path, such as the skilled trades, the military, work or a business of their own.

For planning, that means the most valuable exploration happens in the first years of high school, while students are still open to what they find.

Figures come from more than 3,800 responses students submitted at 13th Year™ kiosks and school links across the 13th Year™ network in 2026, not only Indiana schools. Students could choose more than one answer, and some responded more than once.

Dual enrollment

Dual enrollment in Indiana

Indiana's dual credit framework is set in Indiana Code Title 21, Article 43, under which the Indiana Commission for Higher Education may identify priority dual credit courses offered in the high school setting that receive state funding, and the Commission sets the rate charged to students for those courses. The Indiana College Core is a 30 credit hour block of general education that transfers among Indiana public colleges and universities. The Commission also partners with the Center of Excellence in Leadership of Learning at the University of Indianapolis to endorse Early College High Schools.

Students who explore careers and interests early, for example through daily exploration on a 13th Year™ kiosk, can choose dual enrollment courses that build toward a specific goal instead of collecting unrelated credits.

What students need before the planning meeting

The most productive planning conversations happen when a student walks in with something to talk about: a career they read about, a program that surprised them, a question about the military or an apprenticeship. That kind of curiosity comes from exposure, and exposure works best when it is frequent, self-directed and part of the school day.

Practical ways to build exploration into the year

  • Connect seals to real people and places. Show students what enrollment, employment, and enlistment and service look like through local colleges, employers and recruiters, not just requirements on a page.
  • Start before junior year. Seal requirements such as work-based learning hours take time. Students who explore in 9th and 10th grade have room to act on what they discover.
  • Make exploration self-serve. Give students a way to browse colleges, trades, military service and careers on their own time, so counselor time goes to the conversations that need it.
  • Bring families in. Share what students are exploring so families can support the path their student chooses.

Where the Student Pathway System™ goes

13th Year™ places an interactive college and career kiosk in your hallway, a modern guidance resource students use before, during and after school. Students explore colleges, skilled trades, military service and careers at their own pace, which maps naturally to the enrollment, employment, and enlistment and service paths in the new diploma. It supports, and does not replace, your school's planning tools and school counselors.

For administrators, the questions are usually privacy and workload. The 13th Year™ platform is FERPA aligned and designed with student privacy considerations in mind. It does not access the high school's student information system, and no student data is sold. Kiosks come at no cost to the school, and 13th Year™ delivers, installs and supports every kiosk, so it is built to support your counselors, not burden them.

See how 13th Year™ supports Indiana high schools, or request a kiosk for your school.