Course Selection

COURSE SELECTION OVERVIEW

GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

• Schedule requests are a "wish list" for courses the student would like to take. Students will be placed on a space-available basis following their preference. Some popular courses will be placed by "lottery" and have a wait-list. 

• Counselors cannot accept change requests over the summer. 

• Student schedules are built right before school begins in the fall. Student schedules will be released to students just prior to the first day of class, and are final.

PROCESS OVERVIEW

1. Receive Looking Forward to Next Year Info Sheet.

These sheets will be passed out in student's classes in mid-February and are available below with specific information for each grade level regarding graduation requirements and courses for the upcoming year. For more information about course offerings, see the district's course catalog.

2. Attend Information Night.

These information nights will be hosted by Cal High Counseling in late-February. These sessions will guide families through the course selection process and provide an opportunity for Q&A. Info night sessions will be recorded and posted to our YouTube page for those unable to attend. You may also want to check out our FAQ page for the answers to commonly asked questions.

Rising 12th Info Night -- February 13, 2024 at 6:00 pm | virtual, link to register

Rising 10th/11th Info Night -- February 21, 2024 at 6:oo pm | virtual, link to register 

Rising 9th Info Night -- February 28, 2024 at 6:00 pm | virtual, link to register

Rising 9th Open House -- February 29, 2024 at 6:00 pm | at California High School, Freshman Packet handed out that night 

3. Input your Course Selections into the Infinite Campus Portal.

Students will input their preliminary course selections into Infinite Campus at the beginning of March. Directions on inputting requests online are available here. Students wishing to take advanced courses (AP or Honors) should review the Required Research for AP/Honors Courses.

4. Meet one-on-one with your counselor to discuss your selections.

Between late-March and the middle of April, 9th-11th grade students will be meeting individually with their counselors to review their selections and answer any additional questions that the students may have. Students wishing to take advanced courses (AP or Honors) will complete an AP/Honors contract. 

We will be meeting with 8th grade students at Pine Valley and Iron Horse at the beginning of March. 

Transfer students will be invited to register for meetings in late Spring to discuss their selections.

5. If needed, communicate any changes with your counselor.

If after your student's individual meeting, they wish to make any changes, they can submit the change via this Google Form between May 15-23.

LOOKING FORWARD TO NEXT YEAR INFO SHEETS

FAMILY INFORMATION NIGHT RECORDINGS AND SLIDES

REQUIRED RESEARCH FOR AP/HONORS COURSES

1. Recommendations for AP/Honors Courses

Review the outline of recommended grades & prerequisites.

2. Time Management Worksheet - Required for students taking more than 2 AP/Honors classes (submit through AP/Honors Contract Google Form).

Complete this worksheet with your parents/guardians and evaluate your time. AP/Honors courses have significantly more homework.

3. AP/Honors Contract Google Form - Required for students taking an AP or Honors class. 

Read and understand the agreement you are making to take an AP/Honors course.

OTHER RESOURCES

Academic Standing

It is important that you know how you are progressing. To make sure you are on track for graduation and/or college, you should use your transcript to review your credits. You can access this in Infinite Campus under the Documents section, it is labeled as Portal Transcript. (Do not use the "Academic Credit Report" on Infinite Campus,  it does NOT show credits accurately and is misleading.) 

A general rule of thumb for assessing progress toward graduation is to look at how many credits you have earned. 

Here is an idea of how many credits you should have at the end of each academic year. 

• 9th grade: 60 credits (30 credits at end of 1st semester)

• 10th grade: 120 credits (90 credits at end of 1st semester)

• 11th grade: 170 credits (145 credits at end of 1st semester)

Check out the Four Year Plan page to not only evaluate your progress so far, but also to explore your options for the future. 

SRVUSD Course Catalog

The SRVUSD Course Catalog provides information about course offerings, prerequisites and recommendations for sequencing, and other planning tools.

• • • ONLY courses that indicate "All" or "CHS" are offered at California High School. 

    • Not all courses in the catalog are offered every school year. 

Non District Courses

Students wishing to take Non-District Courses (NDCs) to be placed on the SRVUSD transcript must consult the SRVUSD non-district course website for the process and follow the instructions before enrolling in the course. Consider the following when making decisions regarding NDCs.

• It is advised that whenever possible, students enroll in courses at CHS before pursuing online options. Colleges communicate their preference for students taking classes at their high school compared with online, asynchronous learning.

• We frequently receive feedback from teachers that students completing NDCs for advancement purposes are not as well prepared as their counterparts who received instruction from a teacher over the course of an entire academic year.