High School Diploma

Baltimore's top cop is adding another obligation to his busy schedule next month: part-time student. Speaking at a ceremony Friday for a group of officers enrolled in a leadership certificate program at the University of Maryland University College, Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III disclosed that he would soon be going back to school himself. Bealefeld has a high school diploma. He dropped out of Anne Arundel Community College to join the police academy after suffering a sports injury that dashed his hopes of earning an athletic scholarship.

When Howard Winchester-Bey was 14, he promised his dying mother he would graduate from high school. On Tuesday, he will fulfill the pledge he made nearly 40 years ago. Now 54, Winchester-Bey will be among 30 students who will complete their basic education, albeit late or by nontraditional means, through the South Baltimore Learning Center, a nonprofit organization that is celebrating 20 years of offering second chances. The organization has given more than 1,000 Baltimore residents the chance to earn their General Educational Development certificates and high school diplomas in the past two decades.

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.

The way South Baltimore businessman Jules Edward "Sonny" Morstein Jr., sees it, he owes something to the community in which his family has prospered. "This city has given me a good life," said Morstein, 65. "How can I not give back?" Nearly 25 years ago, several business owners along South Baltimore's Light Street asked one of their own to help renew their shopping district. Morstein, who runs the city's oldest family-owned jewelry store, stepped into the role of president of the Federal Hill Business Association.

Dyslexia Tutoring trains volunteers to tutor low-income children and adults with dyslexia and other language-based disorders. Volunteers should have a high school diploma, good language skills, patience and a willingness to understand those with language disabilities. Tutors are trained through a 20-hour course in the Orton-Gillingham method of teaching, reading, spelling and writing. Interested volunteers will also undergo a background check and must commit to 60 hours of tutoring.

HSA test requirement upholds diploma's value Kudos to state schools Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick, the Maryland State Board of Education and Baltimore schools CEO Andres Alonso for standing firm on requiring students to pass the High School Assessment tests to graduate from Maryland high schools ("Md. firm on tests," Oct. 29). Tenth-grade-level proficiency is the standard for these tests, so every student who graduates from high school should be required to pass them. If you cannot read at the 10th-grade level upon graduation, you will not be able to compete in the job market.

Special-ed students to be held to same test standard 1 The Maryland State Board of Education voted yesterday to make the passing standard for a group of special-education students who take a modified high school test the same as it is for students without disabilities. The decision came after advocates for students with disabilities said those students should be held to the same standards as other students. State statistics showed, however, that only 9 percent or 10 percent of students who took a modified high school assessment last year passed.

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.

Not so long ago, Nicole Casteel was adrift. She had dropped out of Franklin High School in Baltimore County in 10th grade and was homeless, moving from one friend's house to another. But now, Casteel, 20, has a GED diploma from Howard Community College and is working toward becoming a nurse. She is completed a phlebotomy course at the college and plans to continue taking classes, she said. On Sunday, Casteel was one of 25 grads to walk across the stage in cap and gown at HCC's Smith Theatre and accept a high school diploma after completing the GED or the External Diploma Program at the community college.