High School Diploma

A show with "glitz and glamour" production values wasn't exactly the vision in Michael Stebbins' head back in 1983 when he was 17. The classically trained singer and then-amateur thespian was handed his high school diploma a half-year early in his hometown of Kenosha, Wis., and began touring with a Six Flags entourage. "I had imagined myself getting into the 'real theater,'" said the producing artistic director of Rep Stage in a mock British accent. "Not the world of spandex and tap shoes.

For some, it's the best way to keep students from coasting through school without learning the skills they need to flourish in a complex society.For others, it smacks of a national government agenda to shape the way children think and make them question values taught at home.But one thing is certain. The latest trend in American schools -- known as outcomes-based education -- is a subject Maryland parents will be hearing a lot about in the next few years.The concept is the underpinning of a tough new series of "performance-based" tests the state school board is considering a requirement for a high school diploma, beginning with the freshman class of 1996.

The Maryland Adult External High School Diploma Program allows participants to take between six months and a year to earn a high school diploma. The program is self-paced and allows applicants to work at their own pace. The total cost is $200. Several information sessions will be held at the Community College of Baltimore County, Essex Campus at 9:30 a.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays this month and next. The first of two evening sessions will take place at 6:30 tonight. Additional information sessions will be held at the CCBC Catonsville Campus starting Monday.

Columbia grandmother Barbara Kleinhen earns her high school diploma today, after years of preaching to her children about the importance of finishing school.Ms. Kleinhen, a 54-year-old postal worker who is deaf, dropped out of high school almost 40 years ago. But with the help of a sign language interpreter who attended adult education classes with her, she was able to pass all of her tests to earn a diploma through the General Educational Development (GED) program.She's one of more than 30 nontraditional students who will graduate from Howard Community College's adult education program at a ceremony at Smith Theatre.

For 20 years, a high school education was George Herbert Dunston's elusive goal.Over those years, he began high school equivalency classes five times, but something always interfered: his family, long hours at his job, responsibilities at his church -- where he is a deacon.Now, finally, Mr. Dunston is pursuing the education he has desired for so long. For the past two years he has been attending classes offered by the AFL-CIO Community Services' Project LEAP, which is partially funded by the United Way."

Maryland isn't the first state to have second thoughts about denying diplomas to thousands of high school kids who can't pass state tests. As the graduation deadline grew near, Washington state delayed requiring its math exam. Utah dropped the testing requirement altogether. In Massachusetts, the teachers union mounted an ad campaign against the tests - though the state held firm. And in California, parents got angry and filed a class action suit. Students still have to pass the tests to get a diploma, but they can stay in high school for up to six years if that's what it takes.

Seniors at Dunbar and Southern high schools will turn their tassels and close a chapter of their young lives this evening, officially kicking off the Baltimore school system's graduation season. Over the next four days, more than 3,500 seniors will graduate from city public high schools. Nine ceremonies will be held tomorrow, including one at Edmondson-Westside, where students were joyfully picking up their gowns yesterday. "That's 130 students up from last year," said the system's director of high schools, Frank DeStefano.

Too distracted by a desire to follow his father and brother into military service during World War II, John "Joe" Fisher admits he often skipped school as a teenager and wasn't much interested when he did attend class. In 1945, Fisher was 16 and had completed the seventh grade at what is now Randallstown High when his mother, Evelyn, agreed to sign papers that would allow him to enlist in the U.S. Navy -- a year before he would be old enough to enlist on his own. "I wouldn't stay in school," he said last week while he leafed through a manila folder filled with military memories, including photos showing him with a dozen fellow recruits in an engineer school battalion.

Daniel J. Muffoletto, a World War II veteran who served in the Army's 10th Mountain Division, recently received his high school diploma under the provisions of a new state law. Muffoletto, 78, and his wife, Dorothy, live in Forest Hill. He attended Baltimore schools through high school at Boys' Vocational School, at Howard and Centre streets. Under a law passed in April, Muffoletto became eligible to receive his high school diploma if he had completed two years of academics and had a year of experience in the auto garage at the Boys' Vocational School.

Some 22 percent of Carroll residents 25 years and older have not graduated from high school, recently released census figures show.Ofthose residents, 6,681 have less than a ninth-grade education; 10,368 completed school levels up to 12th grade but did not earn a high school diploma."