<p>My bad, I though you were in Austin, not simply responding to poster austin. </p>
<p>What state are you in?</p>
<p>As long as the school is offering the courses required to meet the state requirements for graduation, the local high school and administration has total control and latitude in deciding what they are going to offer and when it is going to be offered. </p>
<p>The state guidelines are the minimum requirements needed for graduation. For example in NYS, you only need 1 unit (2 credits of foreign language) to meet the state’s graduation requirement for a regents diploma. How ever it is not unusual for schools to offer 3 units (6 credits of foreign language) to fulfill the requirement for an advanced regents diploma and the 3 year foreign language recommendation at many colleges.</p>
<p>our HS has a couple of different tweaks to the graduation requirements that exceed the District’s.<br>
In addition to a different health course (units), the first two years of science curriculum is different.
But our HS grad requirements are clearly laid out in the school handbook (and the Superintendent is well aware of the curriculum variances at the four high schools in town.)</p>
<p>The Massachusetts High School Program of Studies (MassCore) is intended to help our state’s high school graduates arrive at college or the workplace well prepared and reduce the number of students taking remedial courses in college. MassCore recommends a comprehensive set of subject area courses and units as well as other learning opportunities to complete before graduating from high school.</p>
<p>The recommended program of studies includes: four years of English, four years of Math, three years of a lab-based Science, three years of history, two years of the same foreign language, one year of an arts program and five additional “core” courses such as business education, health, and/or technology. MassCore also includes additional learning opportunities including AP classes, dual enrollment, a senior project, online courses for high school or college credit, and service or work-based learning."</p>
<p>The courses our high school offers definitely meet the state requirement. My issue is that the principal’s requirements don’t match the school committee requirements or the student handbook requirements. I would think there would be some oversight of the graduation requirements process by the school committee so that the principal couldn’t unilaterally impose his own requirements without consulting the school committee, which is the educational policy-setting body in our town.</p>
<p>^^ask the GC for a copy of the School Profile, the report that the high school sends to colleges. Frequently, that has a list of grad requirements.</p>
<p>It seems your district is allowed to add to the state requirements for graduation. You just need to have your school board clarify which requirements they’re using, 2 years of world history and 1 of US, or vice versa.</p>
<p>I don’t think the OP’s issue is how strenuous the courses are. If the state requires 2 world history classes to earn a high school diploma and the local district is telling students they only need 1, that’s a problem.</p>
<p>In our area, there are district requirements for which all high schools must follow but individual high school requirements that can vary a little from school to school depending on their focus or theme. For history, our district requirements are 1 sem geography, 1 sem American Government, 1 sem Econ, 1 year world, 1 year US… so 3.5 years of history. I know a neighboring high school has an additional 1 semester history requirement. I know the neighboring district requires less.</p>
<p>What does this second year of US history consist of? Could it be a label for American Government and Economics?</p>