Graduation Requirements Document

Graduation Requirements Presentation

Graduation Requirements - Self Audit

Graduation = A student has earned 25 credits [See above]

Decatur High School students need to earn 25 units of credit in the following specific content areas to earn a diploma:

4.0 English/Language Arts

4.0 Humanities/Social Studies

4.0 Mathematics

4.0 Science

2.0 World Language

3.0 Career Technical/Fine Arts/Additional World Language

3.0 Elective

0.5 Health

0.5 Personal Fitness

**Each summer there is a stringent review of credits earned and final transcripts to ensure that (a) all credits are accurately recorded to DHS transcripts, (b) students are scheduled into the appropriate classes for promotion/graduation/program eligibility, and (c) students are taking advantage of opportunities for career exploration.

**Students coming in mid-year – counselors evaluate transcripts from former schools and create an appropriate plan for meeting graduation requirements and preparing for post-secondary goals

Promotion occurs each year with the cohort regardless of number of credits earned. High school students progress with their cohort regardless of the number of credits earned each year. Advisement courses will be reflective of the students' cohort. Specific supports will be in place to monitor students who are off track for graduation to remediate and support them back to a path of timely graduation with their 9th grade cohort.

Per the CSD Graduation Requirements Administrative Regulation on Awarding Credits, “The unit(s) of credit earned in middle school shall be posted on the high school transcript as a numerical grade and shall be counted as elective credit. Parents/Guardians will have the opportunity to request the course(s) count as high school core credit in the subject area taken. Grades for these courses shall not be used to calculate grade-point averages for high school purposes including for HOPE scholarship eligibility in accordance with Georgia Student Finance Commission rules. For transfer students, middle school credit will remain as indicated on the official transcript from the previous school.” This is in line with SBOE Rules 160-5-1-.15 and 106-4-2-.48.

Frequently Asked Questions & Core Credit Request Form

Students need to take a high school level "Health" course and a “Personal Fitness” course in order to graduate and earn a high school diploma in the state of Georgia. These courses should be taken in 9th grade. Although the classes are offered at DHS, in order to allow more room in their schedules for electives, many students elect to take the courses online over the summer at their families expense.

Two such courses are HLTH 041: Health Education and FIT 041: Fitness for Living offered by BYU Independent Study. Health (17.3110010) and Personal Fitness (36.3510010) courses are offered through Georgia Virtual School. These courses can also be taken at any regionally accredited learning institution. Please communicate with your counselor before proceeding with any online coursework. BYU and GaVS information is included father down on this page.

Health/Personal Fitness Alternative Plan form - complete this form if you plan to meet your Health and/or Personal Fitness graduation mandates by any other means other than taking one or both of these courses at DHS.

PERSONAL FITNESS WAIVER: Please review the information in this document if you are interested in applying for a Personal Fitness Waiver. The link to the application to apply for the waiver is contained within the informational document. NOTE: There is no waiver for Health. Students will still need to take a .5 credit, one semester, Health course that will be paired with a Physical Education course (Team Sports or Physical Conditioning only).

DE students, like all DHS students, must be in a position to earn 7 units of credit each year.

DE seniors must also successfully complete Senior Capstone Project in order to meet graduation requirements.

Full time DE 10th graders are exempt from the Personal Project promotion requirement.

All students must complete Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2 to graduate. Taking DE math courses, does not preclude students from this GaDOE mandate. (GaDOE Math Curriculum)

CSD Dual Enrollment Website

CSD DE Video Presentation (2022-23) & Q&A Questions with Answers

Supplemental DE Information from the GaDOE

GaFutures DE Website

DE Course Directory

DE FAQs and Instructions

Dual Enrollment Parent/Guardian Participation Agreement

Dual Enrollment and the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG)

Deadlines to have Participation Agreement conversations and documents completed with counselors:

• March 1st for post-secondary institutions with April 1st deadlines

• April 1st for post-secondary institutions with May 1st deadlines

• May 1st for post-secondary institutions with June 1st deadlines

• May 31st for post-secondary institutions with July/August deadlines

• FOR ALL SPRING SEMESTER DE STUDENTS: Students must have their Participation Agreements completed by October 1st.

DHS Dual Enrollment Process:

1. Complete your Dual Enrollment application to your respective college/university.

a. Enrollment Packet for Georgia Piedmont Technical College - HERE

2. Submit ALL required documents to the college by the deadlines posted on their website.

3. Create or access your GaFutures account to complete the funding application (both parent and student have to sign).

4. Access the Course Directory, also located on GaFutures, to select courses you may be interested in.

5. Meet with the counselor to discuss the courses which align with your goal of high school graduation and post-secondary planning (this should happen each semester of participation in DE).

6. Place your course on this Google Form so that your counselor can complete your Funding Application.

7. Final grades are communicated to DHS by the DE institution and placed on the student transcript (DE courses are given 1.0 point of weight for rigor in the DHS GPA calculation and 0.5 point of weight (core courses only) by the state in the HOPE GPA calculation.

Decatur Career Academy Early College at GSU is a has its own independent identification, information, and application process. Students will be notified when these events occur.

Option B Information

Detailed Option B Information

Option B Checklist

More Option B info (from the Charter School Foundation)

• Alternate High School Graduation Path (often referred to as SB2) – available to Georgia students who complete certain 9th and 10th grade level classes, all related end-of-course Milestone assessments, and complete requirements related to postsecondary coursework. These students may be awarded both a high school diploma and a college credential, click to see more.

• Joint Enrollment Program – high school students enrolled in non-Dual Enrollment participating high schools or home study programs may enroll in postsecondary courses while continuing to pursue a high school diploma. Under the Joint Enrollment Program, DHS will accept post-secondary course work credit completed at regionally accredited post-secondary institutions as credit towards the student’s high school graduation requirements. Joint Enrollment is not state funded and all associated fees are the student's/family's responsibility.

I looked at my child’s grades, and he or she is struggling. What are some starting strategies I could use?

Click HERE for tips on supporting your student's academic success.

If you are interested in taking a course through the Georgia Virtual School. You must first communicate such with your counselor. After meeting with your counselor, you can complete the DHS-GAVS Application and follow your counselors instructions for next steps. NOTE: Math courses require two forms for approval.

If approved to take a GAVS course, students must go to the GAVS website and create an account and register for class(es). See the GAVS Calendar for registration dates. DHS will only accept applications for 18 week courses .

Courses are listed here: GAVS Course Listing. You must meet GAVS and DHS prerequisites in order to take a course.

How to create a student account, register for classes, and use your GAVS Account can be found here: GAVS Student Registration & Use

How to create and use a parent account can be found here: GAVS Parent Information

All of GAVS classes have Instructors. The course content is available online 24/7. However, the GAVS teacher facilitates the learning. The teacher does not lecture as in a traditional setting. Each teacher has set office hours for questions as well as a “live” session held once a week to answer questions or work math problems, etc. via a web conferencing tool called Jigsaw. If a student is unable to attend the live sessions, they are recorded. Teachers can be reached via email, phone or during the live sessions. There is not a DHS teacher available to support your GAVS coursework.

GAVS classes are NOT DHS classes and do not abide by DHS Make-Up policies, etc... GAVS has a due date. One day later students may turn in work and receive a %-age point deduction. 2+ days later, students receive a zero (0) on the assignment/ test, and must move on to the next assignment.

Students in GAVS courses in the Fall and Spring that desire to drop/withdraw from a GAVS course must do so prior to the 13th day.

Students in GAVS courses in the Summer that desire to drop/withdraw from a GAVS course must do so prior to the 3rd day.

Withdrawing after the days above may result in the family having to reimburse the school district for the cost of the course if CSD paid for the course.

To withdraw from a course, students should first meet with their counselor. The counselor will then instruct you, if approved, to go to the enrollments page and request withdrawal. The facilitator must then approve the withdrawal.

GAVS Grade Reporting on the DHS Transcript - GAVS reports grades to the tenth (decimal 0.0). DHS will round these grades to the nearest whole number using the rules of math. If the grade is .0 - .4 it is rounded down. If the grade is .5 - .9, it is rounded up. Ex. 79.5 will be rounded to an 80 and reported on a DHS transcript as a B (4 on the IB scale). Ex. 79.4 will be rounded to a 79 and reported on a DHS transcript as a C (3 on the IB scale).

GAVS and EOC Courses - DHS students taking an EOC course via GAVS MUST take a GAVS Final Exam. The coursework inclusive of the final exam = 80% of the student's final grade for the course. Students will be notified when they must sit for an EOC test. The EOC = 20% of the student's final grade for the course.

GAVS and AP Courses - DHS students taking an AP course via GAVS MUST take a GAVS Final Exam. The coursework inclusive of the final exam is used to calculate the student's final grade for the course. Students will be notified when they must sit for an AP test. DHS students taking AP courses MUST take the AP test.

GAVS in the SUMMER - You will take your course in a condensed 6 week format. For most students, this means committing about 5-6 hours daily to GAVS course work.

There is no guarantee that CSD will pay for a GaVS course. GAVS does NOT accept American Express/AmEx payments.

The cost of the courses and information can be found at: BYU Distance Learning.

The process for DHS students to take BYU online courses can be found HERE.

Accessing and Understanding Your Transcript & Grade Point Averages Presentation Slides

Grade Point Averages

CSD/DHS does not rank students therefore rank is not reported on transcripts.

The Valedictorian & Salutatorian of the Graduating class will be determined based on 18 week/mid-year academic reports.

When you transfer to DHS from another school/school district your former school may have used a different points granting system for GPA calculation than we do. When a student transfers, their GPA must be calculated by using the CSD/DHS points granting system for GPA calculation. This often means when a student transfers their DHS GPA is different (could be higher or lower) than their GPA at the former school.

A student may be awarded credit or test-out for up to 3 units of credit by demonstrating subject area competency.

A student may test-out of any course that has an associated EOC, but may not be awarded any more than 3 units of credit by demonstrating subject area competency.

Students must meet the following eligibility requirements to exercise this option:

a. Not currently or previously enrolled in the course;

b. Have earned a grade of B or better in the most recent course that is the same content area of the course for which the student is attempting the EOC;

c. Received a teacher recommendation from the teacher of the most recent course in the same content area (or, if not available, a teacher in the same content area with knowledge of the student’s academic achievement) for which the student is attempting the EOC; and

d. Received parent/guardian permission if the student is less that 18 years of age.

To Note:

i. Students are allowed only one opportunity per course to demonstrate subject area competency;

ii. Students must take the EOC during the appropriate state-approved testing window for administering the EOC test (testing will take place during EOC Mid-Month windows and during the annual Summer Main Administration.);

iii. Students who do not reach the performance level of Distinguished when attempting to test-out to enroll in and complete the associated course and retake the EOC test even if the students make a passing grade on the EOC test during the testing-out attempt, if the course is required for graduation; and

iv. Units of credit earned under this testing-out option will be counted toward fulfillment of students’ requirements for a subject area course, toward fulfillment requirement as to course sequences, and towards meeting graduation requirements.

v. Families may be required to pay the $50 fee per test associated with this test-out option

vi. If a student is scheduled into the next level course, they are no longer eligible for EOC Exemption. For example: If a student is taking AP Physics they may not test out of Physical Science .