<p>DS took several HS classes while in MS (Conceptual Physics, French I, Algebra I, Algebra II/Trig, Geometry), and while those classes appear on his HS transcript, he doesn’t get HS credit towards graduation for them, nor do the grades factor into his GPA. He will also graduate after his junior year, but had to complete 220 units over 3 years in order to do so. The only real advantage to taking the HS classes early was that when he finally got to HS, he was able to take accelerated and AP classes straight away, so his transcript is competitive against traditional 4-year high schoolers.</p>
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<p>In some school systems, taking HS courses in MS is so common – especially for math and foreign language – that it could be a bad idea for a student to avoid it. If all the kids who are good at math are taking algebra and geometry in middle school and you wait until high school, you’re going to be in HS math classes with the people who struggle with math. That could be a frustrating and unpleasant experience because you’re in a class that was designed for people whose needs are very different from yours.</p>
<p>So even though many people dislike the idea that children in some school systems can damage their high school transcripts as early as 7th grade (maybe even 6th) by getting a low grade in a HS course taken in MS, taking the course may be the lesser evil.</p>
<p>I’m in Maryland and it is common for middle schoolers to take Algebra, Geometry, French, and/or Spanish. For the foreign languages, they had to be recommended by 5th grade teachers as being advanced enough to get out of the otherwise required reading class. Algebra 1, however, wasn’t offered as a honors class which could be a concern for some, looking as WGPA.</p>
<p>My older daughter took 9th grade honors Spanish in 8th grade, and my current junior daughter took four 9th grade honors classes in 8th grade: science, English, math ( integrated algebra)and Spanish. I do not have any regrets as they both did very well.</p>
<p>Decades ago when I was in middle and high school, students could get advanced in math and foreign language in middle school so that they entered high school ready to take Spanish/French 2 (instead of 1) and geometry (instead of algebra 1).</p>
<p>The middle school courses and grades were not shown on the high school transcript. The state universities did not care about the absence of those courses and grades, since they (then and now) saw that completion of higher level courses in high school implied completion of lower level courses. I would expect reasonable private universities (then and now) to look at it similarly.</p>
<p>We are in Illinois. In our school district kids the HS classes that can be taken in MS are first year foreign language, biology, algebra 1 and geometry. The classes nor the grades appear on the HS transcript and are therefore not counted in the HS GPA. However, the classes also do not count toward HS graduation requirements. I.e., four years of HS math are required to graduate, so if you took geometry in MS you will likely take alg2/trig, pre-calc, AP calc and AP stats in HS. Similarly, if you took Span1 in MS and need two years HS language, you must take Span2 and 3. They try to make this all clear in MS, but seems there are always folks caught unaware.</p>
<p>It is NOT a given in every district that HS courses taken in MS will appear in a transcript. In our district in Oklahoma, for instance, the students receive HS credit in MS, but the MS grade does not figure into the HS GPA. My daughter took Geometry, Spanish, and English at an honors level in MS, and did not have to retake those same classes in HS. She just automatically went to the next highest level in the subject.</p>
<p>In NYC it’s pretty common to take Algebra in 8th grade. Some schools also do U.S. History and foreign languages (meaning for high school credit).</p>