Academic Guide Information

The scheduling process is the shared responsibility of students, parents, teachers and counselors. Since students’ educational programs have implications for post-high school education and eventual career choice, careful planning is required. Students are encouraged to seek as much information as needed from parents, teachers, counselors and other students in order to make wise choices. Personal conferences can be arranged with a counselor by contacting the Counseling Office.

Administration and/or staff may initiate schedule changes for concerns including, but not limited to, medical reasons, mid-term graduation (seniors only), discipline or repeating a failed course with a previous teacher. Drop class requests beyond the first week of the semester may result in a failing grade being recorded on the transcript. All schedule changes are subject to administrative approval. Second semester schedule changes shall be limited to gaps, misplacements, issues associated with failing a class and senior graduation requirements.
 

Enrollment refers to the process of completing enrollment in Skyward each Summer and must be completed by parents/guardians. Students that do not verify enrollment by the deadline given will have their schedule dropped. Students may lose desired elective classes as dropped classes will be given to new students and will have their schedules reinstated on a space available basis.

Pre-Enrollment is the process that students complete in a given school year to prepare for the next school year. Counselors make group presentations to students regarding opportunities appropriate to their academic year. Counselors also hand out a copy of each student’s current transcript along with a pre-enrollment form. Students are then asked to review the course guide and work with their parents to pick appropriate courses and fill out their pre-enrollment form. Students will be able to see teacher recommendations in their Skyward account and should consult with their teacher if there is a question about the recommended placement. Pre-enrollment forms are returned to counselors during a designated meeting time. At this time, students will use their pre-enrollment form to transfer course requests to Skyward, meet one-on-one with a counselor and turn in their pre-enrollment form which is then kept by the student’s grade-level counselor. Based on the student’s choices, decisions will be made about which courses will be taught for the following school year. Low enrollment may cause a course to be canceled. As a result, students should choose courses carefully and choose their alternate choices equally as carefully. Once all requested courses have been entered into Skyward and level placements are verified the district office works with the scheduling software to complete the scheduling process.

The paper form that students fill out with their course requests and alternate choices. A parent signature is requested and the form is returned. Students are advised to take a photo of their completed form before turning it in. 

During the pre-enrollment process students make course requests. These are recorded both on their pre-enrollment form and in their Skyward account. A request does not mean a student is guaranteed to be scheduled into the course. Schedules are run giving priority to seniors first, then juniors, sophomores and lastly freshmen. Students are asked to choose course requests carefully as they will be scheduled into requested courses and not given an opportunity to change later.

Efforts are made to schedule students into courses that are requested. In a school that has over 2,000 students we are limited by staffing and logistics in the seats we have to offer. Low enrollment requests and staffing changes have caused last minute changes to courses and programs in recent years which have required students to be enrolled in an alternate course request.

Popular courses are requested by more students than are able to be accommodated. Some courses are requested at a 1:3 ratio meaning that for every seat that exists in the classroom, there are three students hoping to fill it. Only one student gets scheduled in the seat and the other two students are scheduled into an alternate choice. This is why students are asked to choose alternate choices carefully. Staffing and logistics determine the available number of seats in each course or program and it is not possible to meet all student demand.

As a part of the pre-enrollment process, teachers are asked to make a recommendation for the student’s next course and the appropriate level of rigor. These recommendations are entered into Skyward. Parents and students have an opportunity to review the recommendation and can contact the teacher with any questions or concerns. As teacher’s gather more information and data points throughout the semester they are able to update their recommendations before the scheduling software is run.
 

Students who are interested in higher level courses should sign up for Pre-AP, AP or college level courses. 

Graduation requirements refer to the number of credits required under Board of Education policy, in each subject area, to earn a diploma. Under procedures for implementing this policy, students are required to enroll in certain specified courses as part of their total program.

To ensure that students meet graduation requirements, they are scheduled for classes based on the intended course sequence. This is the order that courses should be taken in to balance the academic load over four years. Transfer students who may have taken courses out of sequence will work with counselors to determine their course sequence.

The unit is the measure of school credit. With successful completion of work in each subject, each semester, 0.5 unit of credit is granted. Pr1me Time, Student Aides, Study Hall and some CTE courses give 0.25 credit.

A prerequisite is a requirement that must be successfully met before signing up for a course. This could be a course that must be taken before taking other courses or it could be a specific GPA or test score achieved. Prerequisites are listed in each course heading.

Derby High School uses a block schedule with Green and White Days. Students attend blocks 1-5 on Green Days and blocks 6-10 on White days. Classes are scheduled for blocks 1-4 and 6-9. Blocks 5 and 10 are designated as Pr1me Time blocks.

green/white days & daily schedule
 

Classes are scheduled by semesters. Final grades post to student transcripts at the end of each semester. Semesters are divided into quarters with parent teacher conferences held after the first and third quarters to review student progress.
 

Pr1me Time is a structured tutorial opportunity for enrichment and assistance that occurs during the school week. One purpose of Pr1me Time is to provide opportunities for students who do not have time to get help from their teachers during, before or after the school day. All students may use this time to make up class work missed due to excused absences or do homework. Pr1me Time is also a structured opportunity for students to develop rapport and connections with a consistent group of students and teacher. Pr1me Time teachers will mentor students and review grades for all classes. Students have the opportunity to travel to other classrooms to receive help from teachers who are listed on their schedule. Students also may have a student coach come to their Pr1me Time for assistance. Pr1me Time is 0.25 credit. Pr1me Time does not count towards KSHAA activity eligibility. Pr1me Time will be graded as A-Pass-Fail. A passing grade begins at 70% and an A grade will be given for 90% and above. Criteria for grading will be included in the syllabus provided to students by their Pr1me Time teacher each Fall or when starting the class.

All Seniors must have a complete 1st semester schedule, but Seniors that are on track for graduation are allowed to abbreviate their 2nd semester schedule to just classes they need and/or want to take. Please keep in mind any KSHSAA high school eligibility requirements and/or college admission requirements you may need. All athletes will have a full schedule semester 1 and must be enrolled in 5 classes second semester, study hall and student aides do not count toward your 5 classes.

Students wishing to graduate early must meet with their counselor to develop a plan of study. Approval Process: The approval process begins with the student meeting with their counselor to develop a plan of study that will ensure that graduation requirements can be completed by the requested graduation date. After a plan of study has been developed and approved by the counselor the student shall obtain a request for early graduation from the counselors’ office. Both the student and parent or legal guardian of the student must sign and return to the counseling office. Pictures of three-year graduates will remain in the junior section of the yearbook, not in the senior section, and will not be included in the senior panoramic picture. Those students graduating in three years or less earning honors distinction will receive a single black honor cord. Those graduating in three years or less will not be either calculated or recognized in the graduating class. Candidates must meet all graduation requirements (25 credits) to participate in the graduation ceremony.

Course grades are cumulative with two quarters in a semester.

Grading Scale - 
A - 90% and above
B - 80% - 89%
C - 70% - 79%
D - 60% - 69%
F - 0 - 59%
 

GPA is calculated on semester grades only.

Some DHS classes, college classes and other opportunities have GPA requirements. Course listings include GPA requirements or recommendations under “prerequisites.”

Senior class rank is based on a seven semester grade point average. Class rank using weighted grades is also figured at the 5th, 6th and 8th or final semester of high school. Weighted grades are used to determine a G.P.A. A “cap” is established for class rank purposes only. The cap for a six semester rank is 4.40. The seven semester cap is 4.525 and the eight semester cap is 4.625. Additional honor points can be earned, but they would be in excess of the cap and would not be used for class rank purposes – these points would be for an individual grade point average. Students with an unweighted 4.00 G.P.A. who have earned honors points up to the maximum cap will earn top recognition for class ranking purposes. A Pre-AP class successfully completed at the high school will be counted towards class rank even if the class was taken while the student was enrolled at the middle school (i.e. Pre-AP Geometry).

A weighted grade point system will be utilized for all Honors, Pre-AP and AP courses. A list of courses is on the following page. Grade points will be awarded in the following relationship:

All courses will be graded on a scale of 4.0
A = 4 points; B = 3 points; C = 2 points; D = 1 point; F = 0 points
For each successfully completed Pre-AP or AP course of year-weight an index of 0.05 will be added to the cumulative grade point average. Each successfully completed Pre-AP or AP course of semester-weight will have an index of 0.025 added to the cumulative grade point average. GPA will be computed to the third decimal place.
 

Students may obtain a copy of their unofficial transcript during school hours in the DHS counseling office or by emailing their counselor. It is the student’s responsibility to know whether they need an unofficial or official transcript for their application, scholarship, job offer, etc. Official transcripts for graduated seniors are obtained and sent through a state program called Parchment. Seniors are able to view their records and request that their academic records be sent at any time. Students should register an account with www.parchment.com in June after their junior year when six semester grades and GPA are updated. After graduation all transcript requests are made through Parchment.

When a student fails a core course that is required for graduation, they receive no credit for the course. It must be successfully repeated with a passing grade. Once the course is successfully passed, the passing grade will not replace the failing grade on the transcript.

Students that transfer mid-semester will have their courses matched and transfer grades will be shared with their teachers.

Elective courses in which a student has received credit cannot be repeated for credit, unless so specified in the course guide. Repeating core courses is not an option. Students may not repeat a course to replace a previous grade. All semester attempts will be recorded on the student’s transcript.

Students that fail a course required for graduation have the opportunity to retake the course to earn the needed credit. Students who do not take advantage of credit recovery opportunities during the year will need to enroll in Summer School. Students that failed any core courses and did not make-up the credit during summer school will be re-enrolled in those core courses.

Students enrolled in the regular academic program will be governed by the following policies:
1. No student may enroll in any course except with prior permission of the high school principal.
2. Students who have taken a course during the regular academic year and have failed to meet the requirements to receive credit in the course may repeat that course for credit.
3. Students who are deficient in credits and who are not on schedule to graduate with their class may take courses to bring them back on schedule.