Starting next year, Roanoke school officials will discourage students from settling for alternative certificates and push them toward standard or advanced diplomas.

The move comes as state education officials are weighing a plan that would tie a high school's accreditation to the number of diplomas it hands out. State officials say the proposal would make the state accreditation process more rigorous and high schools more accountable.

Critics call it a step in the right direction but say it doesn't go far enough because it gives too much weight to GEDs and other less-challenging degrees short of a diploma.

To Roanoke Superintendent Rita Bishop, anything short of a diploma will not be enough to prepare students for life after high school.

"I don't play games. A high school diploma is where it needs to be," she said, calling the diploma "the gatekeeper for the rest of your life."

Besides the traditional standard and advanced diplomas, Virginia schools offer special diplomas for students with disabilities, as well as GEDs, certificates of completion and General Achievement Diplomas, all of which are less academically challenging than a high school diploma.

Right now, a high school's accreditation is dependent solely on its students' pass rates on Standards of Learning tests. Graduation rates, which have been an unreliable yardstick because there has been no standard way to calculate them, have not been a factor in accreditation.

This year, the Virginia Department of Education will release graduation rates calculated under a new and more accurate formula. That has spurred the state board to consider including graduation rates in school accreditation.

Under the Virginia Board of Education's proposal, a high school's accreditation would be tied in part to the number of diplomas and degrees it awards. The state has devised a point system that would award more points for diplomas and fewer for certificates, GEDs, and other lesser degrees. If adopted, the measure would be phased in starting in 2010, and points earned by a high school would be a factor in its accreditation.

In Roanoke, Patrick Henry High School awarded 276 standard and advanced diplomas in 2007 but also gave out 55 GEDs, 39 special diplomas and 17 certificates of completion. William Fleming High School awarded 233 standard and advanced diplomas that year as well as 32 GEDs, 16 special diplomas and 14 modified standard diplomas.

That's not enough high school diplomas for Bishop. She vowed not to let students settle for alternative degrees, even if the state's proposal is approved.

"I would be gravely disappointed if that led to some sort of game-playing where kids are not encouraged to get a high school diploma," she said.

Bishop said officials are working on programs designed to keep students in school until they get a diploma. For instance, the school system will try to attract students through a revamped career and technical education program. The system is also planning a special academy designed to help overaged students or students who do not have enough high school credits persevere toward a diploma.

In Roanoke County, the vast majority of high school students get a standard or advanced diploma. In most cases, the number of students at a county high school who settle for a lesser degree is lower than 10. The only exception was William Byrd High School, which awarded 11 special diplomas last year.

Angela Ciolfi, an attorney for the Charlottesville Legal Aid Justice Center, fears the state's proposal would give high schools an incentive to direct struggling students away from standard diplomas and toward less challenging options.

"We have to be careful that the current proposal doesn't have the unintended consequence of moving kids into last resort options such as credentials that are less valuable," she said. "Accreditation is the state's seal of approval, and we need to make sure that it means the school is getting students ready for college, work and life."

Department of Education spokesman Charles Pyle said "there's going to be a discussion around that question."

"What is the appropriate balance to strike between the ideal, that is a diploma, and a lesser outcome that still represents a successful effort to keep a student engaged?" he said.

Gov. Tim Kaine is reviewing the state's proposal. Spokeswoman Delacey Skinner said he will probably weigh in on the plan in a couple of weeks, after which the plan will go out for public comment. After a series of public hearings, the state's Board of Education will have a chance to amend the plan before taking a final vote.

It's still unclear how the proposed new rules would affect the accreditation status of the city's high schools, both of which were fully accredited last year.

But Bishop suggested she's less concerned about earning accreditation for the high schools than about boosting the number of students who get diplomas.

"Accreditation is really important, but what is really, really important is doing the right thing," she said.