Welcome to the academic registration guide for the 2024-2025 School Year! 

The Upper School Faculty is excited to offer a rich and expansive range of courses for the upcoming year. By visiting the Academic Program Overview and Signature Programs tabs above, you will be able to view our course offerings for the 2024-2025 School Year. The pages are organized by discipline, and each individual course listing includes curricular information, prerequisites, credit information, as well as participation in our Signature and Diploma Programs. This coming year will see some exciting additions to our curriculum, including a wide range of elective courses in the Humanities and the Social Sciences, the continued expansion of our elective and research offerings in the Sciences and in Math, the introduction of new Advanced Applied courses in every discipline, and an ever-increasing range of pathways within the Arts, World Languages, and the Creative Applied Technologies (CAT) Program.

Below, you will find the registration schedule and information for current Upper School students who will enter Grade 10 in September. 

As you review the resources for our 2024-2025 Academic Program, please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions. All of us on the Upper School Faculty look forward to an exciting year ahead!

KEY CONTACTS

• Advisor: Each student’s academic advisor serves as their primary guide through the registration process. The advisor is usually the first stop for questions, and advisors will schedule sessions with each advisee to shepherd their course registration.

*For new 10th-12th graders, as well as for all incoming 9th Graders, the Academic Dean serves as the advisor until a faculty advisor is assigned in August. 

• Faculty: Should students have questions about their placement (Math and World Language) or Honors/Advanced Applied course offerings, they should consult with their current teachers. 

• Academic Office: General questions about registration or course offerings or policies? Contact the Academic Office.

• Registrar: Questions about Registration logistics? Need to change or correct information? Contact Evan Kanouse, the GCDS Registrar.

• HONORS

Students should discuss Honors options with their advisor and with their teachers. The College Counseling Office guidance is that students should pursue these challenges only if they have demonstrated ability, authentic passion, and faculty placement support for that area of study. A grade that does not reflect strong performance in an Honors course will not serve as an advantage in the college process. Students should review the honors policy included in each of the program sections of this academic guide. 

At the 10th Grade level, the Upper School Faculty offers discrete honors courses in Math. The faculty also offers heterogeneous classes that can be taken at the Honors level for: 

• History 10

• English 10

• Chemistry

Discrete Honors Courses

Discrete honors Math courses carry clear prerequisite requirements for registration, and students will register for those courses during the April registration period.

Heterogenous Honors Courses

For the core 10th grade courses listed above, each Department will make Honors placement recommendations in May of 2024. These decisions will be applied to the relevant 10th grade courses for which the student has already registered for the 2024-2025 school year.  These placements should not come as a surprise to a student or family, but rather, should reflect a consistency of feedback from the department and represent the department’s professional assessment of the level of support and challenge that will best guide each student’s growth going forward. 

For more information, please review the Honors guidelines and process listed on each department section of this Academic Guide.

Additional Registration Policies

• Course Changes: Students have until the course change deadline (Semester I:  Sept 13, 2024; Semester II: January 31, 2025) to make changes to add or drop a course. This, however, is not a course ‘shopping’ period. Students should be advised that most courses are fully enrolled upon the start of the semester, and space to move between courses is usually very limited. Students are encouraged to work closely with their advisor, teachers, and relevant diploma and program directors during the registration process to determine the best courses for their registration. If a student changes their registration following the course change deadline, then they will receive a Withdraw ‘W’ on their transcript. In order to make a change to their registration, a student must complete and submit a Course Change Request Form prior to the Course Change Deadline.

• Intersession: Students will register for Intersession 2025 during the fall semester.

• Seminar: Students will be automatically registered for the Seminar course required for their grade level.

• Abroad Programs: Should a student wish to consider a Semester Abroad, please contact the Academic Dean as soon as possible during Semester I of the academic year prior to proposed travel. The Academic and College Counseling Offices will need to approve any external program for credit.

Graduation Requirements

Our Graduation Requirements are designed to ensure maximum flexibility for our students, encouraging their greatest ambition in the pursuit of their learning. These requirements serve as broad guardrails, and do not represent the total academic experience of any of our students. For example, more than 90% of our students pursue 4 years of one or more world languages. All students must be enrolled in at least 7 courses each semester.

Humanities (English, History/Social Science): 7 credits (Required 4 years of English and at least 3 years of Social Science)

STEM (Science, Computer Science, Engineering, Math): 6 credits with a minimal completion of Algebra II in Math (Recommended at least 3 years of Math and Science, including Biology, Chemistry, and Physics)

Seminar: 4 credits

World Language: 2 credits (years), achieving at least Level III in a language sequence

Arts (visual, performing and design): 1 credit 

Team & Fitness: 2 seasons team and 2 seasons fitness per year***

Intersession Experience: 4 years (passing grade)

Junior Thesis: (passing grade)

Presentation of Learning: 4 years (passing grade)

*A full-year course earns one credit, a semester course earns ½ credit.

**In the case of a cross-listed course, a student may count the course only once toward their graduation requirements.

***Every student is required to participate in two (2) team activities and two (2) fitness activities annually. Participation on a sports team, whether interscholastic or club, will count for one team activity and one fitness activity. Other examples of team activities can be co-curricular clubs (robotics team, Model UN, debate club, etc) and performing arts options (fall musical, jazz band, acapella groups, etc). Obtaining a fitness requirement, other than participating in interscholastic and intramural teams, could include partaking in a school offered fitness program (strength and conditioning, spin class, yoga, etc ) for 90 minutes a week through the fall or spring term.