This proposal is for an additional New York State secondary certification to be called the Regents External High School Diploma. The new diploma program has been designed to provide a flexible and credible alternative to the four-year high school diploma and to the New York State Equivalency Diploma. The external diploma ordinarily would be awarded by a Board of Cooperative Educational Services superintendent or a superintendent of one of the Big Six city school systems on behalf of the State Educational Department. State-approved performance criteria together with individualized learning objectives will be certified by means of a localized assessment process. Teachers from local school districts and others qualified by experience would be trained as assessors prepared to enable a candidate to receive recognition and certification of competencies wherever and whenever acquired. The time and location of learning experiences needed to prepare for such a diploma would vary with each candidate's objectives, motivations, abilities, prior experiences, and personal situation. The concept could be tested and refined over a three-year period in Syracuse and the five surrounding counties. Accountability to the State Education Department for the academic quality of the proposal would reside in a Regional Committee for the External High School Diploma. (Author/JM)