MISD High School 101

Mrs. Faris, MISD CTE Counselor

What you need to know to graduate from high school

Review…

• When picking a career you need to know yourself. Consider skills & interests.

• Use career & interests surveys. Talk to adults & do an internship. Take classes in your area of interest.

• Research careers: look for salary, years of school, skills required, location, demand, and longevity.

• MISD Offers career classes.

• Those classes are arranged into 5 areas called endorsements.

• Students will pick an endorsement based on their future goals.

Review…

• The 5 endorsement areas are:

STEM: Science,Technology, Engineering & Math

Business & IndustryPublic ServiceArts & HumanitiesMultidisciplinary

High School 101

What will I learn today?

•Frequently used terms

•Credits- how many?

•Transcript- Your High School Report Card

•Attendance- State Law

•Pre AP versus Non Pre AP

•End of Course Exams

•Endorsements & Programs of Study

To there…

How do I get from here…

Frequently Used Terms• CREDIT Every course equals one credit (1.0).

• SEMESTER The year is broken into 2 semesters each .5 Credits.

• HALF CREDIT Some courses are only one semester so we refer to them as “half credits”. If you take one of these you must take another “half credit” (.5) course the other half of the year.

• TRANSCRIPT: the final report card for high school. It has all your grades and information on it. It is the document colleges review for entrance.

• STAAR EOC: End of Course Exam. Required to pass for graduation.

• 4 Year Plan: The overview of all the classes you plan to take in high school.

Frequently Used Terms• GPA: Grade Point Average. All of your grades

in your core classes and 2 years of foreign language are averaged then divided by the number of courses taken…The final number is your GPA. Colleges review GPA for entrance and scholarships. High school uses the GPA for rank in your class.

• Pre AP, AP & Dual Courses: MISD offers 4 types of courses. First are regular classes. The Pre AP/AP version is more rigorous and holds more GPA points (Weight) than Non Pre-AP. They are designed to prepare you for college. Dual classes achieve high school and non-high school credit at the same time.

Frequently used terms

• Endorsement: Five categories of careers/classes in Texas/MISD

• Program of Study: Specific career/class choices under the five Endorsements

• CTE: Career & Technology

• Electives: Classes that the student is allowed to choose, or have flexibility in choosing.

• Core Classes: Math, Science, English, Social Studies

• LOTE: Language other than English (foreign language)

Credits/ClassificationIf you have… you are a….

6 credits ~ Sophomore (10th)

12 credits ~ Junior (11th)

18 credits ~ Senior (12th)

26 credits ~ GRADUATION

Attendance Policy- STATE LAW!

• Must be in attendance 90% of the time.

• If you miss too much school we can not give you credit, regardless of your grade!

• Tutorials & Saturday School to make up time. $15 fee for Saturday School

• Must be enrolled in school to get your driver’s license and proof of enrollment is required by DPS. MISD can not give you this document if you have exceeded allowed absences.

Sequence of Core Courses

English Eng 1 Eng 2 Eng 3 Eng 4

Science Biology Chemistry Physics 4th year science

Math Algebra 1 Geometry Algebra 2 Pre-calculus

• GT IS Math Calculus

Social Studies World Geography World History US History Govt & Eco

END OF COURSE EXAMS START HERE

FRESHMAN STAAR EOC

•ENG I •ALG I•BIO I

SOPHOMORE STAAR EOC

•ENG II

JUNIOR STAAR EOC

•US HISTORY

Quick Review…

• Each class is worth 1 credit, you need 26 credits to graduate.

• All of your information and grades are kept on your transcript, which is reviewed by colleges.

• You must pass 5 STAAR EOC Exams to graduate.

• If you have excessive absences you will not earn credits in the course regardless of grade.

Picking your graduation plan

• When you begin looking at the programs of study…you will notice that each endorsement has core classes and CTE (Career & Technology) Courses that are required for graduation.

• Everyone also needs one credit of PE, One Credit of a Fine Art and 2 credits of a foreign language (LOTE)

• In order to graduate on the endorsement there are certain classes you must take.

• Consider that you only have 7 classes per year & 4 of those are core classes.

What if things do not go as planned?• Failing a class: Could put you behind in

graduation because you must retake the class until you pass.

• Changing your mind: Endorsement changes may be made at any time with counseling & parent approval. Note* Based on course availability & time of change it may not be possible to complete certain endorsements.

• Attendance issue: Make up hours or retake class.

• Move to a different school: Texas Schools/Other

• Passing STAAR: Retake until you meet passing.

• Foundation Plan: no endorsement.

Pop Quiz

• How many credits does it take to graduate?

• How many STAAR EOC Tests must you pass to graduate and what are they?

• What is the name of the document that colleges review at the end of high school?

• What does CTE stand for?

• What are the 5 Endorsements offered in MISD?

Next Time…

• MISD Course Offerings

• How to fill out a 4 year plan

• Graduation Checklist

• Question & Answer