Earning Credit

Happy Superbowl Sunday.  Are you going to watch the game today?  What about the commercials?  It always makes me smile the day after the superbowl to hear what people are focused on talking about - the game or the commercials.

Of course, right now, in my office the number one topic we are talking about is registering for next year's classes.  One of the most common questions that has been asked of me by students who have been struggling academically is "will I be a sophomore/ junior/ senior next year?"  So, even though I have been addressing these questions individually, I thought it might help to remind everyone about how earning credits works.  

High school is different than elementary and middle school.  In middle school, you take classes and each year you move on to the next grade and take all the classes for that grade.  In high school, you must earn credits for specified classes and the way you earn credit is by passing each semester of the class. 

So, for example, all students must earn 4 credits of English to graduate.  When you pass both semesters of English 1 during your freshman year, you move on to English 2 during your sophomore year.  If, unfortunately, you failed one of the semesters of English 1 then you are going to have to make that up before you can progress on to English 2.  Students who failed a semester will be able to make up the course either by repeating the class in summer school, repeating the class through credit recovery or repeating the class by retaking it during your sophomore year.  The bottom line is that you must REPEAT the class in some format.

Some classes (like English or Math) have pre-requisites that students must meet in order to move on to the next level.  Other classes, like Science and Social Studies, do not have pre-requisites to move on to the next level so we will allow you to move from Physical Science to Biology or from World History to US History without first repeating the freshman year class.  Don’t misunderstand though, you will have to repeat the class at some point, but if you are not making it up during summer school, then you will likely be taking a freshman year class during your junior year.

In order to earn sophomore status, students must have earned at least 5 credits.  To become a junior you will need 10 credits.  To be classified as a senior, you must have earned at least 15 credits.

If you have any questions about where you stand with the credits you have earned or what still remains, please don’t hesitate to stop by and see me.