Policies

Students who enter a Montgomery County high school with credits from home school must schedule a conference with the guidance department at the appropriate school. Academic counselors can help parents and students understand credits that will or will not be accepted.

Once students have selected their courses in the spring, they are expected to pursue that course of study in the fall. Course changes may not be permitted due to enrollment numbers. In accordance with state policy, any course dropped after the first five days of each semester will result in the course being recorded on the student’s transcript with a grade of Withdrawal Passing or Withdrawal Failing. Also, N.C. guidelines regarding courses with State mandated end-of-course tests do not allow course changes after the 10th day of the course.

A student who plans to transfer to another high school must get a withdrawal form from the school’s counseling center and take it to each teacher so that all grades and absences can be recorded. The completed withdrawal form is required for entry to the school where the student is transferring.

Students who transfer from outside Montgomery County Schools receive credit for all courses taken in accredited high schools. If a MCS student wishes to participate in a special program which carries high school credit either during the school year or in the summer, he or she must obtain permission from the school.

Any student who plans to graduate early from Montgomery County Schools must successfully complete regular graduation requirements including (but not limited to): End of Course exams, high school exit standards, and state mandated competency requirements.

Any student, who wishes to graduate early, must notify their counselor at the time of registration during their junior year.

The term “credit recovery” will be used to refer to a block of instruction that is less than the entirety of the standard course. Credit recovery, therefore, delivers a subset of curriculum of the original course in order to specifically address deficiencies in a student’s mastery of the course and target specific components of a course necessary for completion. Credit recovery only serves to recover the credit toward graduation and does not affect a student’s grade point average (GPA). Therefore, the credit recovery course will appear on the transcript with either a “P” for pass or “F” for fail. Neither of these marks will affect the student’ GPA. If the credit recovery course is passed, then the transcript will show a unit of credit for the course, which will count toward graduation. The record of the student originally failing the course will remain on the transcript with the failing grade associated with it and will continue to impact the student’s GPA. Please check with your guidance counselor to see if Credit Recovery is right for you. The application is found in the appendix. Testing may be required.

The term “repeating a course for credit” will be used to refer to a high school course repeated via any delivery method when the entire Standard Course of Study for that course is being taught to the student for a second time.

Students are permitted to repeat a course for credit when they have failed a course. Students repeating a course for credit shall receive a grade and take the associated End-of-Course (EOC) assessment. Those students who have already scored at Level 3, 4, or 5 on the associated EOC assessment may elect to either retake the EOC or use the previous passing EOC score as at least 20% of their final grade. If the student retakes the EOC, the higher of the two scores will be used in the calculation of the final grade. Beginning with students entering the ninth grade in 2015-16, upon completion of the repeated course, the new course grade shall replace the previous grade for the course.

All students must meet North Carolina testing and exit standards requirements in addition to course requirements. Montgomery County Schools requires students to complete 28 credits for graduation.

Permission to Register: Each school has courses that require prerequisite courses, special skills, or are limited in class size by law or available resources (i.e. computer lab, technology class). If a student wishes to be considered for enrollment in one of these courses, he/she should get a registration sheet from the counseling office.

To be a sophomore: 6 credits

To be a junior: 12 credits

To be a senior: 18 credits

Special Notes:

• Special exceptions will be made for students who transfer in from a school system with different graduation requirements.

• Students graduate under the state and local requirements, which were in place when they entered the ninth grade.