Graduation Requirements

In pursuit of its mission to ensure that all students reach their learning potential, the Board of Education has established the following graduation requirements.

1. Required Graduation Credits

* Completion of both core and elective credits in grades nine through twelve in the prescribed categories listed below, demonstrating mastery of the curriculum, content standards and course requirements through daily classroom assignments, the district assessment program, classroom assessments, and student participation in, and completion of, assigned projects.
* Completion of the requirements and goals as listed on a student's Individual Education Plan (IEP) which may include modified content standards.

* As of 2010, the Colorado Commission on Higher Education requires 4 credits of Mathematics for admission to a four-year college or university.
** Many colleges require 2 credits of Foreign Language for admission to a four-year college or university.

A credit represents successful completion of a course based on required instructional hours and demonstrated mastery of course content. Credits are used to track progress toward meeting graduation requirements. Successful completion means that the student obtained a passing grade (D- or better) for the course.

Each successfully completed semester-long course earns 0.5 credit. In order to meet the district’s graduation requirement of 26 total credits, students should earn an average of 3.25 credits per semester, or 6.5 credits per school year.

2. State of Colorado Menu of College and Career-Ready Demonstrations

* Before graduating, students will need to demonstrate competency in Reading and Math according to at least one of the options approved by the state of Colorado.  There are multiple ways students can demonstrate their college and career readiness according to the menu: an industry-recognized certification, concurrent enrollment courses, ACT WorkKeys tests, and district capstone projects are among these ways. 

3. Individualized Career and Academic Plan (ICAP)

A student’s Individual Career and Academic Plan (ICAP) helps determine their course of study or pathway through high school. ICAPs are developed and revised in Advisory classes and with the help of their academic counselor. 
Students will be required to pass the Advisory Period every semester of enrollment.  In advisory period, students will engage in and work on:
* ICAP 
* Character Development
* Community Service
A student’s work on ICAP can be seen through their Defined Learning portal.

4. Community Service (optional)

As a school district, we would also highly suggest that all students develop a long-term Community Service project, although this is not required to graduate. A community service project is very beneficial to all students who plan to graduate and move onto post-secondary education.   We have found many scholarships and grants require multiple hours of community service to satisfy scholarship requirements.   All students who receive 80 or more hours of community service will be recognized by wearing special colored cords during their graduation ceremony. 

Forms for keeping track of community service hours are available here. Make multiple copies of your completed forms and turn a copy in to your academic counselor.

For more information on the Colorado Graduation Guidelines, please visit the CDE website.