Academic Programs & Supports

Credit Recovery and Course Sequence Advancement

Credit Recovery

Collegium is committed to each student’s academic success and progress towards graduation. Students earn credits for each course they pass with a 60% or higher at Collegium. Our aim is to help all students stay on-track with their credits for graduation so that students can graduate from high school in four years. 

In the event that a student earns a failing grade in one or more of their courses, the student does not earn credit for the course. Missing credits could have a negative impact on a student’s grade level status and/or graduation status. The student will need to recover credits they do not earn for all required courses. 

Collegium utilizes Apex, an online course provider, for virtual credit recovery during both the school year and summer months.

Students have three options for credit recovery:

Option 1: Participate in credit recovery over the summer.

Students are offered the opportunity to take up to three Apex courses to recover credit(s) they did not earn during the school year. Students participate in Apex courses virtually. Students are contacted by the Counseling Department at the beginning of the summer with an offer of the course(s) they need to recover. Students have approximately 5 weeks to complete and pass the Apex course(s) they enroll in to recover any missing credits. If a student successfully recovers missing credit(s), then they can move on in the course sequence and stay on-track with their grade level and graduation status. It is the responsibility of the student or the students’ family to pay the fee for the course(s).

Option 2: “Double up” on courses in the same subject area during the school year.

Students may be able to take two courses in the content area where they are missing credit. This option depends on a few factors including 1) if there is a prerequisite required for the next course in the sequence; 2) if there is space for an additional course in the student’s schedule; 3) if the two courses that the student needs fit together in the student’s schedule along with the other required courses the student must take. Students may work with their assigned school counselor to review this option to see if it will work for their individual situation. If a student chooses this option, the student will remain listed in their previous grade level in PowerSchool until the credit is recovered.

Option 3: Retake the course the following year from when the failure occurred.

Students are able to retake the course the following school year if they do not earn credit. However, since Collegium requires students to take four years of all five core content areas (English, Math, Science, Social Studies, and Spanish/Foreign Language), this option would negatively impact the student’s grade level status. Students who do not earn or recover missing credit(s) will remain listed in their previous grade level in PowerSchool until the credit is recovered. In addition, the cost of an initial-credit credit recovery course is higher.

Course Sequence Advancement

In certain situations and/or subject areas, students may choose to move ahead in the course sequence. The student would need to talk with their assigned school counselor about their goals and future plans to see if credit advancement is the best option. This is most commonly done in Math or Science in order for students to reach a higher level in Math or Science by the end of their high school career. If a student would like to move ahead in the course sequence, they could be offered the opportunity to take a course over the summer months through Apex. Space is limited and seats are offered to students participating in credit recovery first. There is a fee associated with this option and would be required before a student is enrolled in the course sequence advancement course. Students are not permitted to advance in a course sequence with the goal of not taking a course in that subject area the following school year. Credits are not earned for course sequence advancement and no grade will appear for the course on the student’s transcript. Students must still take four high school years in the subject area. Course sequence advancement does not exempt a student from taking a course in a required subject area.

Dual Enrollment

Dual Enrollment is a program that allows students to register for college courses while they are in high school. Upon completion, students can earn high school and college credit. Collegium High School has partnerships with Immaculata University and Delaware County Community College (DCCC).  Students may be eligible after the completion of 9th grade.

Please review the Dual Enrollment Overview information page linked here.

Advanced Placement (AP) Level Courses and Policy

Select AP courses are available to any student in grades 9-12 who completes and submits an application while meeting the following criteria: maintained an outstanding grade in prerequisite or content-related course; earned an AP Potential™, score; and received a written recommendation from the teacher of the current content-related course. In order to encourage participation in AP courses, Collegium pays for all 10th grade students to take the PSAT/NMSQT, . All successful applicants are placed in the AP course for which they apply.

Rising seniors are given preference over rising juniors, and rising juniors over rising sophomores. Freshmen are typically not eligible for AP course offerings, unless they are invited to apply for AP World History. Students must have a total average of at least a 90% in their current College Prep course or an 85% in their current Honors or AP course by January of the current school year to be considered for an AP course the following school year.   

All 10th-12th grade students interested in applying for AP courses are required to have taken the PSAT/NMSQT exam. The reported AP Potential score from that assessment will be considered in the AP course application process. The PSAT/NMSQT will be administered during the school day for all 10th grade students. 

Students must be aware of the responsibilities that accompany participation in Advanced Placement courses. In relation to their coursework, AP teachers expect substantial student independence. Students must read, write, and comprehend in even greater depth and more analytically than in CCS Honors courses. We recommend talking with specific AP teachers to receive a clearer sense of their course requirements. All Collegium students who take AP classes are expected to take the AP tests in May, as early acceptance into college will not exempt students from the exams. AP students who do not take the College Board AP exam will not receive the full weighted value for that AP course when class rank is determined. Instead, they will only receive 5 points. The parents/guardians of AP students are responsible for AP exam fees. Financial assistance is available for eligible students. Please contact the AP coordinator for more information.

If there are more applicants for a course than CCS has space available, all those meeting the qualifications will be ranked based on how well each applicant met the requirements. Those students meeting the qualifications for the course and not chosen for the available spaces will be placed on a waiting list. If space becomes available and the waiting list students’ abilities continue to satisfy the minimum requirements to join an AP course, the waiting list students may be asked to join a course. Once an Advanced Placement course begins, the course may not be dropped/added. 

Collegium reserves the right to make exceptions to this policy and to revoke student acceptance into AP courses if year-end grades show a significant decline in performance and/or effort. Collegium will offer the following AP courses for the 2023-2024 school year:

AP Biology

AP Music Theory

AP Calculus AB

AP Physics 1

AP Calculus BC

AP Psychology

AP Chemistry

AP Capstone Research

AP Computer Science A (Java) 

AP Capstone Seminar

AP Computer Science Principles

AP Spanish Language

AP English Language & Composition

AP Spanish Literature

AP English Literature & Composition

AP United States History

AP Environmental Science

AP United States Government

AP Human Geography

AP World History