To use to explain a-g courses to your parents and to help them think about planning for high school courses

Hello parents!

I understand some of you have young students, but many of you have already been asking about high school requirements and A-G classes.  It is never too early to start planning for high school! Below are facts to know about a-g courses:

· A-G is the “standard” high school course as you would find in all public high school classrooms.  It is not “AP” or “Honors”, which our school does not have at this time.  You need to be aware that a high school student with a NON A-G high school course listed on their transcript has the possibility of a college or university seeing that course as BASIC or below grade level, and not college prep. We do honor your parent choice for these classes, and if that choice is not compatible with our a-g courses, we will discuss that issue, and you can make the final decision of which way to go. Yes, there are other ways to get into college, but a non-traditional approach will need to be your responsibility if you choose to not have your child complete a course that will meet our school a-g requirements. (Be assured that most courses you would wish to do can or do meet these requirements, but there are exceptions available.)

· All HS students should be enrolled in A-G core courses to be on track for college. We have a school suggested course progression available for you to use as a guide if you wish.

· There is no required textbook for A-G courses, but we do have suggested mainstream textbooks and a course syllabus for all school UC approved a-g courses. Should you wish to do a class we do not have approved (not on our online list), let me know so I can make that request of our guidance counselor. It is a long process to get a course approved, so we need to start early.

· Your ES/SME (That’s me/science SME name) can sign off on wet labs as needed for high school science courses, when sufficient work and understanding is presented.

· I am required to administer a formal assessment for all A-G high school core courses (each semester), as well as keep a file of all exams and final projects completed to justify grades and credits earned, plus have “proof” in my file in case a university calls looking for further information on your student in the future.  Assessments can be written/online tests, projects, presentations, research paper, etc.  There are many different forms of assessment that meet this requirement, but we need to be sure to decide on what this will be well in advance so there are no surprises for anyone.

· As for every high school course, each student must complete at least 90% of the state standards listed for the state course to earn credit for the class (parent may supplement and expand as they wish, of course).

· Community college and online courses may be a-g courses as well! (See more details on these below)

This may sound intimidating, but it’s not! It’s actually very easy and more flexible than in the past when a-g courses had specific textbooks that had to be used.  Please use this as a starting point and remember that most of you already go above and beyond the ‘required state standards’ already as you pursue your child’s interests!

Community College courses : units must be paid for by parent (if required by your CC), but textbooks may be able to be purchased with instructional funding.  This is a great way to get those college general ed requirements started while in high school!  Also, a transfer student after the community college can go almost anywhere with a good GPA!

Online courses such as Aventa are fantastic for being low parent maintenance and offering one on one instruction with a teacher.  Aventa is particularly good at foreign language options.

And there are other A-G approved textbook programs that are not standard fat textbooks like we all think of.  One great one is The Learning Springs (www.learningsprings.com/index.php/curriculum).  You can purchase ALL curriculum needed (textbook, tests, teachers edition, ect) for around $140 per course.  You can also use their online classes – that’s $130 for all year for EVERY CLASS (yes, you read that right!)

One other curriculum I wanted to point out is Knowledgecity (www.knowledgecity.com)  They offer complete training in business skills and computer software. 

When you are ready for HS core courses, I can let you know the current school approved a-g curriculum choices.

Have fun planning for High School!

(Your ES)