SERIES 5000: STUDENTS, CURRICULUM, AND ACADEMIC MATTERS
5400 Curriculum, Instruction, and Parent/Guardian Involvement
5409 Academic Credits and Graduation
A. Graduation Requirements
A student must successfully complete all graduation requirements to earn a high school diploma. The Superintendent will ensure that the District’s required credits and graduation criteria are consistent with state law and annually published in applicable student handbooks.
B. Personal Curriculum
In some cases, it may be appropriate to modify the Michigan Merit Curriculum for a student. Modifications may only be made in accordance with state law. The parent/guardian of a student who has completed grade 9 or a student who has reached age 18 may request a personal curriculum.
A teacher or school counselor may request that the District consider providing a student with a personal curriculum. If requested by a teacher, the teacher must currently teach or have expertise in a subject area proposed to be modified by the personal curriculum or the building principal must determine that the teacher has qualifications relevant to developing a personal curriculum.
In all cases, a student’s personal curriculum must be developed in accordance with state law.
The District will annually notify parents/guardians of their ability to request a personal curriculum.
C. Earning Credit
The District will grant credit to a student who successfully completes a course commensurate with the amount of time the course meets. Successful completion means that the student has demonstrated mastery of the state- or District approved subject area content standards for the course by obtaining a D- or higher grade in the course based, in part, on at least 1 state or District-approved assessment.
Alternatively, the District will grant equivalent credit for a required Michigan Merit Curriculum course if the student earns a qualifying score, as determined by MDE or by the District, on a state- or District-approved assessment (i.e., “testing out”).
The District will grant equivalent credit for a course if the student demonstrates a reasonable level of mastery by achieving a C+ or better on the final examination for the course or, if there is no final examination, by demonstrating subject area content knowledge by obtaining a C+ or better on an alternative assessment, such as a portfolio, performance, paper, project, presentation, or other established means. A student who earns credit in a course by “testing out” will not earn a grade in the course, and the credit will not be considered for determining grade point average or any honors earned based on grade point average.
The District will grant a student credit toward a diploma or alternative certificate if the student successfully completes, before entering high school, a state mandated curriculum requirement by demonstrating proficiency on the content expectations for that curriculum requirement, either through successfully completing the course or by testing out.
Once a student earns credit in a course, either by successfully completing the course or by testing out, the student may not earn additional credit for the course or for a lower level course in the same subject.
The Board will recognize credits earned at other public schools and at accredited nonpublic schools. For students transferring from a home school program, the Superintendent or designee will assess whether the home school credit reflects proficiency in state and District content expectations for each course for which the student seeks to transfer credit. If the Superintendent or designee determines that the student is proficient in the subject area content, the District will award transfer credit.
Legal authority: MCL 380.1278a, 380.1278b, 380.1279b
Date adopted: 08/09/2021
Date revised:
