Revised 3/2012

Graduation Procedure

 

Step 1 – Preliminary Assessment

At the beginning of a student’s last semester before graduation, you will be doing a preliminary assessment of your potential graduate’s transcript with your advisor. You will be given a due date at the first ES meeting of the semester and on the Paperwork Timetable for each school year for you to e-mail your advisor for each prospective graduate for that school year.  Please complete your assessment prior to that date, so that you will have all that you need to pass on to your advisor for their review.  Every year we find problems and a student must complete another course or two in order to graduate—meeting our set deadlines will give your student enough time to do this, if they are one of the ones not quite “done”.

 

Email the following info to your advisor on or prior to the deadline date:

·        The name and student number of the potential graduate

·        A statement that you have checked the transcript (as described below) and all prior school info is on the transcript in FRED, coded all HS courses,  and are in agreement with the credit summary at the bottom of the transcript.

·        List all of the final needed course names that the student will attempt to complete for their last semester on their SA & HS report card, along with the number of credits they will be attempting in order to meet the deficiencies listed in the credit summary. (A “snip” of the last semester’s report card meets this need.)

·        That you have entered/updated this student’s expected graduation date in ES Webfiles (See step 2).


Follow the directions found on your student’s transcript in the “credit summary” box at the bottom. Click on the yellow question mark to access the directions. Click the Refresh button when you are done coding and take one last look at the credit summary to be sure it is accurate. Sometimes printing it out will help you to identify any errors prior to sending to your advisor.

 

A) If the student has any courses on their transcript from other schools that have not been assigned a growth area, please do this first or they will not show up in the credit summary.

B) Clear the CAT and SubCat fields for any courses that have an F grade or zero credits. (This will remove them for that growth area for graduation purposes, but still count in the GPA).

C) Exclude any duplicated courses or supplemental or any courses that have more than 10 credits for any given course title (since we can only count 10 credits for any course).

D) Exclude any course with a sectarian title. We cannot count those credits toward the required 210 graduation credits.

E) Be sure to click "refresh" in the credit summary so that any excluded courses can be omitted from the total requirements.

F) Check each growth area to make sure that all course requirements are met. Refer to the credit summary for guidance:

            1- English- needs 30 units ofEnglis 9, 10 and 11. (Enlgish 12 may take the place of one of these required course titles). Any course (except for a duplicated course name, or a course name with more than 5 credits total) that bring the total over 30 units should have their category changed to “7E” to be included in Special Interests.

            2- Life Skills- needs 20 PE, 5 Health, and 25 life skills electives.

(Please refer to the Life Skills Elective Planning Chart in the high school forms area to be sure your student has met the school standards for this area) If they have more than the required number of credits, then you count the extra credits in the Special Interest Area “7E” .

3- History- needs 10 units of US History, 10 World Studies, 5 Economics. If there are more credits for these courses, then they may NOT be counted in the Special Interest area. Ask your ES Advisor if you are uncertain as to what courses count in any area. For example, World Geography is NOT World Studies. Geography is a special interest course “7E”, and is not counted in the history area at all.

4- Political Process- needs 5 credits of US Government.

5- Mathematics- needs 10 credits of Algebra I and 10 credits of another math course (See math fact sheets and Webexs for specifics in this area).

6- Science- needs 10 credits of a physical science and 10 credits of a life science (See chart for specifics on your chosen course: http://www.sscs.cc/Handbook/highschool/Courseinfo/Sciencerequirement.htm .)

7- Special Interests- needs 10 credits of foreign language or 10 credits visual and performing arts (one full year of one course) or 10 credits of Career/Vocational ED (Standards), and 50 credits composed of any “extra” college prep, academic, or vocational elective classes. Make sure that none of these courses are duplicates of courses from other areas, or courses that must be excluded.

F)After the above steps are done, the credit summary will show the areas where your student is “deficient” in the required number of units for graduation. Match the deficient courses with the HS report card for that semester to be sure all deficits are covered.  The student must still attempt 25 credits, even if less are needed for graduation.  They may drop early when their courses are completed, without finishing 25 credits, but must attempt 25 until they drop.

G)Keep a copy of the e-mail to your advisor for your records. Your advisor will check your student’s transcript and report card and will either affirm your preliminary assessment or offer further guidance. When an agreement is reached, your advisor will print the transcript and use the credit summary to do the final graduation check.

 

Step 2 – Database Entries for graduates

Enter the following information into ES Webfiles for your graduates as soon as you have the information, and prior to submitting the grad packet to your Advisor.  (Enter when this student first enrolls with us in HS, and keep updated as you proceed through their graduation plan.) Go to “View/Students”, and click on “Graduation” tab. Complete the line for each HS student and update as info changes.  Select the “Expected Grad Date” from the drop down list. Choose “yes” or “no” for Ceremony Participation (enter this info the year they expect to graduate only—not before). Choose the correct "Endorsement" from the drop down list of choices. Select the students "After Grad Plans" from the list of choices. If you choose "other", please indicate in "Comments" what the student plans to do next. Grad Packets can not be processed until this step is completed.

 

Step 3 – Submission of final semester report card

About 2 months before graduation (the date will be given to you in the Paperwork Timetable), you will need to complete and click “DONE” on a report card of the courses/grades/credits that you hope your student will complete by the end of the semester.  The final semester grades must at least include all of the courses in the “deficient” area of course summary on the transcript. This report card will generate a new transcript that you will print to include in your graduation packet. (If your student does not complete the projected courses/grades/credits, then the transcript can be changed to reflect the work actually done. Be sure to email your advisor right after the semester is completed if the student needs their report card changed.)

 

Step 4 – Putting Together the Graduation Packet

Send the following to your ES Advisor (due date will be provided in the Paperwork Timetable):

·        Graduation/Completion Packet Checklist

·        Student Graduation Approval Request (needs parent/student signatures, form is in WEBfiles- go to "view" active students and click on the student number.)

·        Graduation Requirements Worksheet that has been kept updated throughout the student’s high school years.

·        Graduation Requirements Agreement that you have updated throughout the HS career of your student (keep a copy for your files)

·        School Certificate Selection Agreement Statement (for qualified {see below}SS/OG 12th graders who have not passed the CAHSEE Only)

·        Final Transcript (printed after transcript is complete)

·        A copy printed from Scantron of this student’s exit Scantron Scores that show student improvement while enrolled in our school.

·        Graduation/Completion Drop Form printed from ES Webfiles, View/Active Students/detail link for graduate.

·        Portfolio (if a December Graduate)

·        Send e-mail to your advisor indicating if there are or aren't any missing materials. The diploma will not be sent until this procedure is complete. (See tracking missing materials for details).

 

On the last day of school, email your ES Advisor and let him/her know:

1. if your student completed the courses that are on the final transcript.

2. if the graduate has any missing materials, (a missing materials form should be mailed to the office asap).

3. if the student has changed their mind and wishes to stay another semester/year.

 

Step 5—Final Grad Packet Review

·         After receiving your emails on the last day of school (or last day for the student if they drop early), your ES Advisor will turn in the graduation packet to the school office if it is complete and all materials have been returned.

·         Within 3 months of graduation, the diplomas will be printed and mailed out.

·         As soon as the last day of school, the parent/adult student may request official transcripts from the IEM office for transcript purposes.


Alternate Paths

All ESs should encourage all students to stay with our school for as long as they are eligible to do so and attempt to complete the graduation requirements leading to a diploma.  If an adult student will not do so, we want you to do all you can to encourage them to take one of these paths listed below.  When you get an agreement, use that drop code for their drop and not the drop-out drop code, which you need to discourage as much as possible.

 

Alternate Paths (not considered a “drop out”):

ü  Adult Ed Program

ü  Community College

ü  Other public or private high school

ü  Military

ü  Job Corp program

ü  Take the GED or CHSPE assessments

 

Certificate of Completion
A School Certificate of Completion will be offered by our school to certain students leaving our school who meet the following listed criteria.  (A parent/adult student requesting a Certificate of Completion must be aware that they are considered a “drop out” by the state.).  A Certificate of Completion is only an acknowledgement by the school that we are honoring your attempts to complete the state graduation requirements.  We still encourage all these students to choose a path in the Alternate Paths list above.

 

COC Criteria:

1.     Must have met all school graduation course requirements (210 credits in required course areas).

2.    Must have attempted the CAHSEE assessment all 6 times it has been offered to them.

3.    Must have scored 340 or higher on both the ELA and math portions of the CAHSEE (350 is passing).

4.    The Certificate must be requested by the parent/adult student (it will not be sent automatically).