The following table is a comprehensive list of courses offered at Benton Community or through Benton Community partnerships. For specific course descriptions, please refer to the chart and the correct page. Additional details regarding college level courses or classes offered at a specific partner school can be directed to the High School Counselor. 

It is important to remember that any concurrent credit, PSEO or Kirkwood Academy course is a college level course. This means that the content will be more advanced, the pace will be quicker and the level of learning will be greatly dependent on student effort and engagement. The profile below, developed by Kirkwood Community College, is intended for the prospective student and their families to review in order to fully understand expectations for success in a concurrent credit course. 

Profile of a High School Student Ready for College Level Courses at Kirkwood Community

College

Academic Skills or Standing

• Demonstrates excellent reading and writing skills, or uses reading and writing accommodations effectively

• Completes all assignments by due date, including assigned reading

• Demonstrates self-motivation as a learner

• Applies classroom learning to cases, observations, and service learning

• Has a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.5 in academic courses

• Junior or senior status, or approval from the high school district 

Personal Traits/Dispositions

• Demonstrates respect for others

• Demonstrates persistence

• Attends class (the entire class) every day unless there is a legitimate reason (illness, death in family, participation in required school activity, etc.)

• Exhibits intellectual curiosity and openness to new ideas

• Works well as part of a team

• Demonstrates honesty and ethical decision-making

Maturity

• Demonstrates self-advocacy & communication skills (communicates needs)

• Successfully manages academic, work, extracurricular & other commitments

Additional Understandings

• If the student has an IEP or 504 Accommodation Plan, student is encouraged to self-disclose this information to the Kirkwood instructor within the first week of classes. 

A Message from Kirkwood:

Kirkwood offers opportunities for students to earn college credit while in high school at no cost to families. These courses are the perfect opportunity for students to get hands-on experience while gaining exposure to careers they want to pursue after graduation. All of the classes students take at Kirkwood are for both high school and college credit.

Students can earn college credit in high school through Kirkwood in a variety of ways. Options range from taking a class or two for transfer credit (within the walls of their high school, online or face-to-face at a Kirkwood location) to completing a sequence of courses in a Career Academy. Career Academies are packaged courses, offered at Regional Center locations, which focus on career exploration while also aligning with industry workforce needs. Students work through their high school counseling office or local Kirkwood Student Academic and Support Coordinator to find out what courses would be best for them and learn more about Career Academy offerings available.

Courses offered at Benton High School

**Note: Kirkwood Community College courses are college-level courses. Students who qualify must be prepared to meet a different and higher expectation. For example, Kirkwood Community College policies apply to these courses, along with Benton Community building policies. The KCC policies for grading, attendance and late work are more demanding than for a typical high school course.

Kirkwood "WebLive" Courses

These courses are "Web Live" courses, which means that they can be taken online in any place that you have internet access.  These classes will be offered over Weblive (Zoom) and will run 16 weeks each semester, respectively. Please read below for the new course descriptions and anticipated schedule.

• Benton Community Credit Hours: .5 (1 Semester)

• Concurrent College Credit: 3 Kirkwood Credits