Academics

SRCS HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS

Counselors would like every student to push themselves, academically, to their highest potential.  SRHS takes pride in the fact that we understand and therefore treat every student as a unique individual.  Counselors, with assistance from the student, their family, past teachers, past testing, as well as current performance, recommended levels of courses that are most appropriate for student success as well as meeting the desired post high school educational goals. 

Courses with the letter P or HP after the name are designated College Prep.  That means the course not only meets the required content of the subject by the state of California, but that the course also meets the rigor necessary to educate and prepare the students to a college ready level upon graduation. 

Not all students feel they can be successful in the rigor (which includes a healthy load of home work ) of a college prep course.  SRHS also offers regular level courses in all subject areas.  These courses meet the expectation of content by the state of California to fulfill the specific graduation requirement. 

Attached is a slide show of the topics covered during our Course Selection Orientation.

• Slide show

9^th grade Course Selection Sheet: 

This sheet is used by Counselors to collect Course choices for the Freshman Year.  Counselors need this form completed and turned into the counseling office in order for your student to be given courses.  The Course Selection Sheet should only be completed by families who are enrolled at SRHS.  It would be very helpful for the counselor if along with this sheet, the student’s report card from the 8^th grade were also included to assist us in placement. 

•  9^th Grade Course Selection Sheet
• Course Selection Parent Cheat Sheet   

10th- 12th Grade Course Selection Sheet:

This sheet is used by Counselors to collect Course choices for the grades of 10-12.  This sheet includes all courses that we planned to offer at SRHS.  Some courses may not be offered if the enrollment is below 20.  In this case, we would move the student into their next choice elective.  The Course Selection Sheet should only be completed by families who are enrolled at SRHS.  If your student is new to SRHS, it is necessary to attach the transcript from the former school.  This information is to assist us in enrolling the student in courses necessary for graduation. 

•  10-12 Grade Course Selection Sheet 

How to choose an appropriate level of a core course?

It is often difficult to choose levels of core courses for your student.  As a parent, you don’t want to disadvantage your child from future options at the same time that you want them to be able to be successful in the courses that they are in.  One other thing to consider in choosing core levels is to look at the whole 6 period day and the impact the amount of homework will have on your child’s extra curricular and family life.  It is equally important for your child to have opportunities outside the classroom as well as the ability to eat dinner with their parents and go see the grandparents on the weekends without stressing about finishing homework and projects.  Each student and their family need to strive for a healthy balance in their lives.  If a parent sees their student is up late regularly and seems tired and unhappy, please contact the student’s school counselor.   A solution may be to tweak a level of one or more classes to alleviate the strain.   If you feel that your student is in a course that is too academically rigorous for your child to succeed in, please initiate this conversation with the core teacher of the course your considering doing a level change in.  Below is the level change form.

• Level Change Form Here

AP/Honors

What is an AP class?

At Santa Rosa High School, we currently offer AP Classes in several areas:

What is an Honors Course?

To encourage students to undertake more challenging studies in high school, the University of California assigns extra weight to grades received in honors-level courses. UC maintains an honors “a-g” course policy that defines the types of honors courses eligible for the UC honors designation.

When calculating a student’s UC GPA to determine if the student meets or exceeds the minimum GPA by residency status, the number of UC-designated honors courses receiving the additional grade points is limited to eight semesters or four years. Students may complete more than eight semesters of honors coursework, but a maximum of eight extra points will be factored into the UC GPA.

Most students complete UC-designated honors courses in grades 11 and 12, although some may complete these courses as early as grade 10. The University limits the amount of extra points added to the UC GPA for UC-designated honors courses completed in grade 10 to no more than four semesters or two years. This limitation also only affects the GPA calculation that determines if an applicant meets or exceeds the minimum GPA UC requires based on residency status.

• University of California A-G Honors Courses