Middle School Students Earning High School Credit

Douglas County School District RE.1
Graduation Regulation IKF-R-2 (beginning with the Class of 2012)

A Student may earn up to 4 credits towards a Douglas County School District high school
diploma prior to the official start of their 9th grade school year.

Qualifying Course Work

• Course work must be completed in an accredited public, private, or home schooling environment and may be delivered through online/virtual or traditional schooling methodologies. An official transcript must be awarded to the student and made available to the Douglas County high school in which the student is officially enrolled.

Credit Accrual

• Credit will be awarded for successful completion of:
  1. Any Douglas County School District high school summer session content course(s) as defined in the District summer school guide or approved equivalent(s) completed preceding the start of the 9th grade year.
  2. Any Mathematics course(s), which exceeds the expectations of an Algebra 1 course (i.e. Geometry, Algebra II, Integrated II).
  3. Any World Language course(s), which exceeds the expectations of Level 1.
  4. Any content area course, meeting Board of Education criteria and which exceeds the expectations of a typical Douglas County 9th grade course as approved by the high school building administration.
• 0.5 credit is earned for a course that generally meets for 18 weeks for at least 40 minutes daily or its equivalent and 1.0 credit is earned for a course that generally meets for 36 weeks for at least 40 minutes daily or its equivalent.

Grading and Calculation of GPA

• All grades earned of either “A,” “B,” or “meeting or exceeding standards,” earned in qualifying courses will be calculated into the student's cumulative high school grade point average and class ranking. Grades will be calculated on a 4-point scale unless specifically designated as a Douglas County School District weighted course. Each quarter grade will be multiplied by 0.25 or each semester grade by 0.5.
• Grades earned in middle school, which are below these expectations, will remain on the student's middle school transcript and will remain in the student's overall middle school grade point average.
• Grades earned in a summer session immediately proceeding the official start of 9th grade which are below these expectations will remain on the student's summer session transcript and will not be calculated into the high school grade point average and class ranking.

Student Transfers

• Students who transfer into a Douglas County School District high school after the start of the 9th grade year must provide official transcripts to validate courses successfully completed prior to 9th grade, and which meet the expectations set forth in this document.
• Final authority on credits earned prior to the official start of the 9th grade school year, which may be in question, reside with the high school building administration and the District Director of Curriculum and Instruction.