Classes Allow 8th Graders To Get A Jump On Graduation Requirements

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The Cherokee County School District continues add to its menu of high school credit classes offered in middle schools, an initiative that allows more rising eighth-grade students to get a head start in obtaining the credits needed to graduate.

For the 2015-16 school year, German I will be introduced at E.T. Booth Middle School and French I will be added at Teasley Middle School.

French I was offered at Creekland Middle School last year for the first time, along with Latin I at Dean Rusk Middle School. Both courses were well-received by students and will be offered again in those locations. Spanish I will continue to be offered at all district middle schools.

The district has offered Spanish I, physical science and accelerated ninth and 10th grade mathematics for several years, allowing students to earn as many as three of the 24 required high school units of credit while still in middle school.

These classes are typically reserved for academically advanced students, but the school district recently began to expand high school credit offerings in fine arts and other elective areas.

Cherokee County schools added Beginning Band I to all middle schools for 2013-14, then launched a major expansion of course offerings for 2014-15, including orchestra, visual arts, chorus, business and technology and drafting and design.

Not all courses are available at all schools, but each middle school offers between seven and nine courses for high school credit.

For 2015-16, all district middle schools will offer:

• Honors GSE Algebra I
• Accelerated Honors Algebra I and Geometry A
• Physical Science
• Spanish I
• Beginning Band I
• Beginning Chorus I

The science and math courses are taken in lieu of eighth-grade science and math, while world language courses are taken in lieu of eighth-grade reading class. The fine arts and business classes can be taken as electives instead of a connections class. Students who qualify to take physical science or algebra will also have to take the End Of Course exam for that class just as a high school student would.

“We have had great success with our academically gifted students being able to master highschool courses while in middle school, and our expansion of fine arts and businessand technology offerings has been very successful this year,” said Dr. Frank Petruzielo, superintendent of schools. “To start high school with several units of credit isnot only a confidence builder; it also gives students more room in their high school scheduleto try electives in different areas of interest, or they can even graduate early. It’s also onemore strategy to improve our graduation rate.”

Parents should contact their child’s middle school for more information on earning high school credit and the eligibility/availability for these classes.

Image via Shutterstock