Course Catalog

Schedule

Prior Lake High School has a 6 hour bell schedule with an optional zero hour class. The normal school day runs from 8am to 3pm, and zero hour runs from 7am to 8am. 

Course Load 

Students in grades 9-12 will be required to register for at least six classes per quarter.  Exceptions may be considered on a case-by-case basis, but are rarely granted (e.g., multiple AP classes in schedule).  Students in grades 11 and 12 will be allowed to register for an open period twice during the year (2 quarters). Four opens (one per quarter) may be granted upon counselor approval for 12th graders in good standing.

High school classes issue letter grades on a scale of A to F.  All classes will be graded at the end of each quarter and students will earn .75 credit for each class.

Grading Scale

A : 94% and above

A-:  90-93%

B+ :  87-89%

B : 83-86%

B-: 80-82%

C+: 77-79%

C: 73-76%

C-: 70-72%

D+: 67-69%

D: 63-66%

D-: 60-62%

F: 59% and lower

School Board Policy Regarding Weighted Grades Classes Graduating Prior to 2026:

Rationale:  In selecting elective courses which have multiple levels of difficulty, capable students should be encouraged to select the most appropriate level. Weighting of course credit in more difficult levels would provide an extra incentive to reward students for challenging themselves.

Courses designated as "weighted courses" will have a grade point value increased by a factor of 1.1 above that of non-weighted courses.  (A = 4.4, B = 3.3, etc.)

Currently, the weighted courses are:  College Accounting, English 9 Honors/Pre-AP, English 10 Pre-AP, English 10 Honors, English 11 Honors, Advanced Placement English Language and Composition, Advanced Placement Literature and Composition, Chemistry Honors, S2S Chemistry, Advanced Placement Environmental Studies, Anatomy and Physiology, Advanced Placement Physics C, S2S Physics, Biochemistry I and II, Geometry Honors, Algebra II Honors, Precalculus Honors, Advanced Placement Statistics, Advanced Placement Calculus AB & BC, Advanced Placement Computer Science A, Advanced Placement Human Geography, Advanced Placement World History, Advanced Placement US History, Advanced Placement American Government and Advanced Placement Economics, Advanced Placed Psychology, Advanced Placement Studio, Spanish 4CE, Spanish 5, Spanish 6, German 3, German 4, German 5, French 4, French 5 and any other AP courses.

School Board Policy Regarding Weighted Grades Starting Class of 2026:

In selecting courses which have multiple levels of difficulty, capable students should be encouraged to select the most appropriate level. Weighting of course credit in more difficult levels would provide an extra incentive to reward students for challenging themselves.

All Advanced Placement (AP) Courses and all year long Concurrent Enrollment Courses will be designated as “weighted courses” in the high school course registration guide. 

Courses designated as "weighted courses" will have grade point value increased by a factor of 1.10 above that of non-weighted courses. This policy will be in effect for the graduating class of 2026 and beyond.

Quarter Electives: There are only 2 opportunities each year to request a schedule change for electives:

• August (initial schedule release)

• January (before 3rd quarter)

  • Elective schedule change requests outside of these two opportunities will not be considered.

  • Students will be notified when the schedule change window will be open before each semester.

Yearlong Courses:

• Level change requests (ex: honors to general) will be accepted before quarters 1, 2, and 3. 

The schedule change request information/form will be posted on Schoology at the end of each quarter. With nearly 3,000 students in our building, we cannot accommodate teacher requests while maintaining the integrity of the master schedule.

***If a student or parent has specific and current concerns about a particular teacher***

• The teacher should be contacted directly by the student and/or parent, the concerns should be discussed and a mutually agreed upon resolution should be attempted.

• If a resolution cannot be reached, or the problem continues, the student’s assistant principal should be contacted.

• If the AP is unable to facilitate a resolution, or the problem continues, the issue will be referred to the principal.

Counselors are always available to support and advocate for our students if an issue arises, but counselors do not supervise teachers. We always will encourage students and parents to communicate directly with the teacher before reaching out to an assistant principal and counselor.