2012-2013 High School Curriculum Bulletin - McAllen ISD

Page 14Texas ScholarsBeginning with the 8th grade class of 2006-2007 and beyondA Texas Scholar must:• Earn all the credits required by the Recommended High School Programor Distinguished Achievement Program which includes 26 units and fouryears of Math, and Science as well as English and Social Studies. (Refer toGraduation Plans)• Successfully complete two full year high school courses that are eligible forcollege credit. Courses eligible for college credit are:•Advanced Placement (AP) courses•International Baccalaureate (IB) courses•Concurrent Enrollment / Dual Credit Courses•Applicable CTE courses leading to a post-secondary certification• Develop and carryout a “High School and Beyond Plan” for their four yearsof high school and transition to college, the workplace, the military, or someother endeavor of their choosing.NOTE: Upon earning credit and meeting all requirements, the student will receivethe Texas Scholar medallion. The requirements for Texas Scholars are subject tochange.TECH PREP OF THE RIO GRANDE VALLEY, INC.TECH PREP TEXAS SCHOLARS PROGRAMFORGRADUATING CLASSES THROUGHTHE CLASS OF 2011 and BEYONDTech Prep Scholar Requirements• Earn all the credits required by the Recommended High School Program orthe Distinguished Achievement Program.• Have at least a four-year plan of study-and preferably a six- or eight-year planof study-that includes, in high school, two or more career and technologycourses for 3 or more credits aligned to a career cluster.• Earn at least two college-level Tech-Prep course as part of the student’s highschool graduation plan. A “college-level Tech Prep course” is:• either an articulated course (local articulation or statewide articulation--ATC)or a dual/concurrent-enrollment course• a course for which the school district and one of our local colleges haveagreed that students can receive college credit as part of a Tech Prepgraduation plan.• Students must have completed a declaration of intent to be a Tech PrepScholar•Note: As of August 2011 College-level Tech Prep courses taught by certifiedteachers meeting state and local articulation standards may satisfy “AdvancedMeasure” requirements for the Distinguished Achievement Program if the studentearns an 80 or better in a course that qualifies for articulated credit. Articulatedcredits must be earned during the students 11th or 12th grade year.GENERAL INFORMATIONGuidelines for requesting courses at a second campusStudents who sign up for a one-hour course at a campus other than their own mustselect an additional one-hour course at that campus in order to comply with the bustransportation requirements.Minimum enrollment in a courseA course with an enrollment of fewer than ten students may be combined with asimilar course, or it may be cancelled.Adding/Dropping a CourseRequests for schedule grade changes will be considered during the beginning of thesemester. Seat availability will be considered before granting a level change.NOTE: Dropping a class may affect UIL eligibility.TranscriptsEvery grade that a student has achieved will appear on the student’s transcript whetherhe/she has lost credit for the course, has failed the course, or has repeated the course.Courses taken at middle school, that are considered for high school credit, will bereflected on the transcript. Once a student is awarded credit, the credit can not beremoved. Students may only be awarded state credit for a single course only once.Transfer of Credits from Accredited SchoolsThe District shall accept transfer credits without further validation only from schoolsthat are accredited by a regional or state accrediting agency.Transfer Credit from Unaccredited, Non-Public, Out of State or Out ofCountry SchoolsStudents from non-public, out of state, out-of-country schools may have transcriptsthat record letter grades or that indicate awarded credit for courses with gradeslower than the Texas passing standard of 70. These transcripts may also indicateawarded credit for courses that do not exactly correlate with a Texas course title.When a student transfers after a semester or full year is completed, the receivingdistrict must honor credits already awarded by the sending Texas public district orcharter(19 TAC §74.26(a) (1)). In the case of students transferring into the Districtwith letter grades, letter grades shall be converted to numerical grades for purposesof determining grade point averages and class rank.To validate credits earned through an unaccredited school, either public, private, orforeign-based, the District shall administer credit by examinations or establish creditsearned through scholarship performance in trial grades and course assignments.“Credentialing”, is used primarily for validating credits in language other thanEnglish. If a transcript shows that a foreign student studies his/her native language,the campus may apply these credits towards the Languages other than Englishrequirements.Validated credits from unaccredited schools are not used in determining the rank.Transfer Credit Military StudentIf a military student transfers at the beginning or during his or her senior year, andis ineligible to graduate, after all alternatives have been considered, the sending andreceiving local education agencies are required to ensure the receipt of a diploma fromthe sending local education agency, if the student meets the graduation requirementsof the sending local education agency.Transfer Credit from a Home SchoolTransferring home-schooled students are afforded the same treatment as studentstransferring from unaccredited private schools. Awarding of credit for coursestaken will be determined by the campus reviewing the curriculum and/or work ofthe student or by using credit by examination.