Cherokee Expands Classes Offered For High School Credit

The Cherokee County School District is expanding its offering of high school credit classes in its middle schools for the 2014-15 school year.

The expansion allows more rising eighth-grade students the chance to get a head start on meeting graduation requirements.

The district has offered Spanish I, physical science and accelerated 9th/10th-grade math for several years, which has allowed students to earn as many as three of the 24 required high school units of credit while still in middle school. 

These three classes are typically reserved for advanced students, but the school district "wanted to expand high school credit offerings in fine arts and other elective areas that could be open to all students," it said in a press release.

Cherokee also added Beginning Band I to all middle schools last year, the fourth class students could take for high school credit, and it also piloted six new courses at several middle schools.  

Classes being added to the schedule for 2014-15 school year include: 

• Coordinate Algebra (all schools)
• Latin I (Dean Rusk)
• French I (Booth and Creekland)
• Beginning Orchestra I (Mill Creek and Woodstock)
• Beginning Chorus I (all schools)
• Visual Arts/Comprehensive I (Creekland, Mill Creek and Woodstock)
• Intro to Digital Technology (Creekland)
• Intro to Business and Technology (Dean Rusk, Freedom, Mill Creek and Teasley)
• Intro to Drafting and Design (Dean Rusk)
• Intro to Sports and Entertainment Marketing (Creekland)

Existing courses that will continue to be offered at all schools:

• Accelerated Coordinate Algebra and Analytical Geometry
• Physical Science
• Spanish I
• Beginning Band I

While course selections vary among the schools, each middle school will have at least seven courses available for high school credit. The science and math courses are taken in lieu of eighth-grade science and math, while foreign 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 coordinate algebra will also have to take the End Of Course Test (EOCT) for that class just as a high school student would. 

“We have had great success with our academically gifted students being able to master high school courses while in middle school,” said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Frank Petruzielo. “We wanted to expand these opportunities to all students interested in fine arts and business areas as well, to give more students the chance to start working toward a high school diploma when they are ready. 

Starting high school with several units under a student's belt is not only a "confidence builder," but it also gives students the chance to take various elective courses as well as graduate early, Petruzielo added. 

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