Graduation Requirements

Laurel Graduation Requirements

Laurel High School students are required to take 18 core classes and 12 elective classes (to include the units awarded for community service); a student receives a “UNIT” to show that the class was taken successfully (a “unit” is comparable to a “credit” at a public school).  

The core class requirements are as follows:

The following are ways of taking classes and what they are “worth”:

 Laurel High School Class: One unit (taught/facilitated by a Laurel staff member)

 Viroqua High School Class: One credit equals one unit.

 Independent Study Courses: 1+ units

This is a class that the student would design that would follow their interests. This may be facilitated by Laurel staff, students, and community guest speakers. The objectives, standards and “worth” would be agreed upon by the student, sponsor and teacher. The student must write a proposal, to include objectives, national standards, and timeline to be approved by teacher/sponsor team. The student is responsible for paying for all materials for the project. See more about Independent Study Courses on the FAQ page.

 Interest-Orientated Projects

 Online Classes

 Tutored Classes

 Physical Education and Health: These courses could be taught through a variety of ways: Group activities, such as classes taken at The Wellness Center, guest speakers, joining the high school classes, Laurel classes, etc.


 Internships/School-to-Work: 1+ units (assessed individually by hours completed)

 Working within the community in career-related jobs


 Western Technical College Courses: Each course assessed individually; for each hour in class it is understood that the student will need to spend two hours studying. The following are examples of WTC classes that have already been taken by Laurel students:

1. Race, Ethnic, and Diversity Studies: 1 unit

2. Speech: 1 unit

3. Economics: 1 unit

4. Intro to Sociology: 1 unit

5. Intro to Psychology: 1 unit

6. Accounting (which covers HS bookkeeping 1 and 2): 1 unit


 Independent Correspondence/Online Courses: 1 unit per course (using state standards and benchmarks)

This category has been broken down into two parts:

(a) Courses taken prior to Laurel: a team will meet and use standards and benchmarks to determine what credit will be given for previous coursework—coursework must be available for review. The team will consist of teacher, principal, guidance counselor and/or director of instruction. Courses must have been taken from an accredited program.

(b) Courses taken while attending Laurel: A student may take independent correspondence/online courses under the following guidelines: (1) no more than 8 units over a 4-year period, (2) the class must be paid for by the student’s sponsor, (3) the course must be teacher and sponsor approved and (4) the course must come from an accredited program.