Times Union education reporter Kathleen Moore recently reported on the story of a 14-year-old home-schooled student named Michael Sweeney from Bethlehem, New York. Michael has been taking advanced college courses, but because he is only 14, under New York State law, he cannot graduate. And, because he does not have a high school diploma, he cannot enroll where he wants to go to college, at Arizona State University. Here’s a portion of WAMC’s Sam Dingman’s conversation with Kathleen, who tells the rest of the story:
Sam Dingman: So, what is Bethlehem saying? They are refusing basically to certify him as a graduate?
Kathleen Moore: Right, so what happens when you’re homeschooled is, at the beginning of each year, really in the summer, you file an IHIP. That’s your Individualized Home Instruction Plan. And there are regulations that New York State has, and they are what you’d expect: English, Math, Social Studies, that kind of a thing. In that, you also say what grade the student is going to complete that year. Here’s the sticking point: they said he’ll be completing 12th grade…