Academic Course Load
All students are required to be enrolled in courses for each of the six periods of the day. All students must have their own textbooks, novels and other necessary supplies with them in class. Students who register for a “0” period or 7th period class do so in addition to regular course load.
Student Registration and Course Selection
The administration organizes the registration process to include a comprehensive guidance program designed to assist the student and parent in selecting the courses which meet graduation requirements and college entrance goals. Parents must assist their child in selecting an appropriate course of study. The course catalog will be located on the school website under Academics. Families will be informed when course requests are made available.
Prerequisites/Course Commitment Forms
For some classes, students must meet prerequisites defined in the course catalog in order to take the course. Students requesting upper division, AP, and Honors courses must complete Course Commitment Forms in order to take the class.
- Students who earn second semester grades which render them ineligible for a class may have their course request pulled for the class.
- Students not eligible to take a course may attend SBHS summer school or a summer school program approved by the administration to review material in order to improve the grade and become eligible to take the course.
- Students who achieve the minimum requirement at the end of summer school will be only be placed in the course - space and schedule permitting.
Course Request Updates
- At the time of registration, students and parents must thoughtfully select courses for the entire school year. Both the students and the parent must sign the course request and any necessary Commitment Contracts.
- Students must also select alternate courses to be used in the event a course is not offered due to low enrollment or a scheduling conflict prevents enrollment in a class. Failure to select alternate courses as instructed on the course request may result in being scheduled in any available class.
- Students may request updates to their course request through July 1. After July 1, student initiated changes in the course request cannot be made.
- Students who do not properly complete the course request or do not list alternate choices will be placed by the counselor or administrator in any class that is available. In this case changes will not be made.
Schedule Correction
Once the final schedule is created after July 1, student-initiated changes are not made unless the school has made an error. If a course on the course request form is scheduled, the course will not be changed unless an error was made or the student no longer meets prerequisite requirements for the course.
- Schedules are created for the entire year. Full-year classes cannot be dropped at the end of the semester.
- Schedules are never changed for period or teacher preference.
- For single semester classes, students may not choose the semester the class is to be taken.
Grading Policies
The primary purpose of assessment and evaluation is to determine the extent to which a student has achieved success in terms of course objectives and accepted content standards. This level of achievement is to be determined by a systematic process and conveyed to the student and his/her parents in the form of a letter grade. Grades are further used by teachers and administrators to determine a student’s eligibility for the next level of study and for placement in future classes. Colleges use grades to determine eligibility for admissio
Grading Procedure
- The final grade earned at the end of each semester is posted on the permanent academic transcript.
- Teachers will give written statements of grading policies to each student during the first week of instruction. The policy statement will include the method of determining grades and the teacher’s policy regarding homework and the make-up of assignments and tests/quizzes missed when a student is absent.
- In accordance with the course grading policy, teachers will average all grades earned during the semester in determining the semester grade.
- A teacher assigns a grade on the basis of a student’s academic achievement. Citizenship grades, participation, work habits, and attendance can be computed into the academic grade.
- Attendance is a factor in assigning grades.
- No student should be absent more than 10 days (excused or unexcused) in any class in any semester.
- A teacher reserves the right to lower a student’s class grade by 1% point for each absence over 10 in the same class. For the purposes of grade calculation, 3 Class Tardies may be considered equivalent to 1 Unexcused Class Absence.
- The school reserves the right to deny credit for a class in which a student has been absent more than 10 days during the semester.
Community College Coursework
Students wishing to take community college courses in order to qualify for the next level of math, for enrichment, to review a course, or to meet graduation requirements in Computer Studies or Fine Arts must get the written permission of the administration. The student may earn “dual” credits (college and high school) for these courses. Students will receive credit towards graduation for a required math class taken at a community college only if the next level of math is taken by the student at St. Bernard the following year. Students taking community college courses must provide an official transcript of the grade earned to receive high school credit for the class.
