Graduation Requirements

Personal Finance course should be in place by 2026-27 and this 0.5 credit course will become a Graduation Requirement for the Class of 2030.  Additional guidance will come out at a later date on how this 0.5 credit will be accounted for prior to the Class of 2030 will start High School. Please feel free to use Math of Personal Finance as a course offering if you would like in the interim!

• Math/Sci/AP/IB includes the final year course of Career Technical Education (CTE) programs, as well as math, science, AP, IB or dual-enrollment courses that are not being used to satisfy other requirements. 

• Electives include Career Technical Education programs and overflow from any other categories. 

• See the Ensuring On-Track Status Page HERE for the section entitled VIP “Checks” for determining who is on/off track for credits/Act 158 Pathways.

Act 158 Pathways to Graduation (PtG)

Effective with the graduating class of 2023, students are required to complete an Act 158 Pathway to Graduation. The Academic Plan Status report in SIS should be used to find off-track students for both credits and Act 158 (See above under VIP “Checks” for determining who is on/off track for Act 158/credits.

• Paths to Graduation Office website 

• SDP Act 158 Toolkit

• Act 158 Course Code Instructions

• Service Learning Project Guidelines

• PDE’s Act 158 webpage 

Parent Portal: Viewing Progress toward Completion of Act 158: PA Graduation Pathways  (stepper)

Parent Portal: Viewing Progress toward Completion of Act 158: PA Graduation Pathways (video)

Student Portal: Viewing Progress toward Completion of Act 158: PA Graduation Pathways (stepper)

Student Portal: Viewing Progress toward Completion of Act 158: PA Graduation Pathways (video)

EL Waiver Eligibility

Language Waiver Eligibility Criteria:

• Initial enrollment from another country in 7th grade or above

• Six years of prior education in a language other than English

• Qualify for EL services at the beginning of 9th grade

*** Please note that this exempts students from the World Language requirement, but does not lower the amount of total credits required for graduation.  It remains at 23.5 so they can take other classes in order to meet this minimum total. Eligible incoming 9th grade students will have the Language Waiver applied to their transcript automatically. Beginning October 1, you can apply for a language waiver for students that may have been missed during the automatic process using this form. To check to see  if a student has a language waiver, use the this stepper.

Credit Recovery Options and Guidance

• Edgenuity is contracted to host Web Recovery classes scheduled through Infinite Campus for LN 12, 13, 14, & 15. Edgenuity should NOT be used for original credit.  It is a self-paced online credit recovery option available for students who have completed and failed a course.  It is advised that students be rostered to Edgenuity courses one at a time. Completed courses are posted to transcripts after the end of Term 2 and Term 4.  Edgenuity's website for SDP schools can be found here.

• Saturday School is an in-person program for current 10th - 12th grade students who need to recover credits in order to stay on track for graduation.  Registration typically occurs in early November. Students may be rostered to one or two courses, but application does not guarantee placement in Saturday Credit Recovery. Additional questions about Saturday School programming can be directed to SaturdayCreditRecovery@philasd.org or rnixon@philasd.org

• Summer School: This information is typically released to schools in May, but students should not be rostered until it is certain that they will fail.  Students along with their families must commit to attending Summer School–please do not automatically enroll all failing students or all  in need of credit recovery. Questions can be sent to summerschool@philasd.org or rnixon@philasd.org.

• CTE Credit Recovery Guidance 

• Educere: SDP has a contract with Educere for SY 23-24, so we can accept credits from Educere for students who wish to engage in that program only in the summer and at-cost to families. This would be for students in need of credit recovery who do not wish to participate in the traditional summer school program and/or for students who need more than the 2 credits possible during summer school. Please reach out to tkilderry@educere.net with questions or for your school's direct program registration link for students/families.