Academic Policies | Testing Requirements for a High School Diploma | Graduation Requirements
Academic Policies
In recent years, there have been many changes in the graduation requirements mandated by the New York State Board of Regents. The requirements for a high school diploma for each graduating class are determined by the freshmen year of entry. You are urged to carefully review these requirements. They are listed in the “Testing Requirements For A High School Diploma” and “Graduation Requirements” sections.
Grade Level Promotion Prerequisites
To achieve status as an upperclassman, a student must earn the following credits by September of each year.
To become a:
- Sophomore: 5 credits
- Junior: 10 credits
- Senior: 15 credits
Students who fail to earn the required number of credits must remain in the same grade homeroom until sufficient credits are earned. If a student fails a course required for graduation and does not pass a make-up course in an authorized summer school program, the student must retake the same course the following year.
Course Offerings
All courses described in this curriculum handbook are offered if there is sufficient student enrollment. Some courses are not offered every year. Check with your counselor if you have questions about a particular course.
Transfer Credits
Students who transfer to Jamesville-DeWitt High School from another high school will have their official transcripts reviewed by both the counselor and principal for the purpose of accepting credits that meet New York State requirements.
All students currently enrolled in Jamesville-DeWitt High School may transfer a maximum of two credits from regionally accredited post-secondary institutions for the purpose of earning credit toward a Jamesville-DeWitt High School diploma. The principal must approve the course prior to a student enrolling in the course.
Determining Credit
One credit is awarded for successfully completing a subject that is studied for at least 160 minutes in a four-day cycle for one year. Partial credit is earned for a half-year subject or a subject meeting less than 160 minutes in a four-day cycle for one year.
Summer School Credit
Summer school credit from New York State Education Department approved summer school programs will be accepted for credit. High school summer school courses are generally for repeat credit only and usually do not meet requirements for first-time, accelerated credit. The principal must approve new courses taken for acceleration prior to registration. Credit will not be granted without such approval.
Adding or Dropping a Course
Parent, counselor and teacher permission must be obtained before a student can drop a course. If a course is dropped prior to the quarter-point of the course, no grade is computed into the student’s average.
Reminder: Every student is required to take a minimum of 5 classes and physical education each marking period. No class may be dropped if it leaves a student enrolled in fewer than 5 classes. Courses may not be dropped or added after the first five weeks for a semester course and after ten weeks for a full-year course.
Early Graduation
A student shall be eligible for early graduation in fewer than eight semesters upon completion of all requirements for graduation. Graduation in less than four years is permitted with the approval of the principal.
Commencement
Commencement is a ceremony where Jamesville-DeWitt High School students who have completed all requirements for graduation are awarded their diplomas.
Course Levels
For some courses, there are multiple levels of instruction. Possible levels include Advanced Placement, Honors, Regents and General/Applied. Recommendations from the student’s classroom teacher and counselor are considered for placement of students at a particular level. These recommendations are made to ensure that the student’s instructional program appropriately challenges his/her ability. Performance in class work and scores on standardized tests are important factors that influence recommendation and placement.
Courses offered at the Advanced Placement and honors levels are for students whose class work, study skills and test scores are regularly and significantly above average. Both the curriculum content and the expectations of the course will appropriately challenge students who enroll in these courses.
Course Level Changes
Level changes should reflect consideration of student ability. Level changes are not made for behavioral or motivational reasons.
All level changes must occur by the midpoint of the course. A level change request is initiated through the Counseling Center.
Academic Intervention Services (AIS)
Academic Intervention Services (AIS) are provided for students who have failed or are in danger of failing the New York State assessments required for graduation.
Graduation Requirements
- All graduates must meet New York State and local requirements for a diploma as outlined on the following pages. Students must meet both exam requirements as well as course credit requirements.
- An official high school diploma will only be issued upon the completion of the Advanced Regents, Regents or local diploma requirements. Any student may be enrolled in the public schools until one of the following occurs:
- The student earns a local, regents or advanced regents diploma.
- The student attains the age of 21 prior to September 1 of the school year.
Grading Policies
Students earn numeric grades from 0 to 100. The passing grade is 65%. All grades are determined by the course instructor based upon the student’s mastery of required material as obtained by periodic assessments and on the quality of the student’s work.
Earning of Credit
For courses with a Regents Exam, course credit is earned when a student’s final course average is 65% or higher. The Regents exam is not averaged into the final course average, but is reported separately on the student’s transcript. If a student passes the course, but fails the Regents exam, the student receives local course credit. If a student fails the course, but passes the Regents exam, no course credit is earned unless the Regents exam score is 85 or higher. If the student earns an 85 or higher on the Regents exam, course credit may be awarded upon approval of the high school principal.
Honor Rolls
Four times each year, after report cards are issued, an Honor Roll will be released based upon grades received during the quarter. Students are eligible for Honor Roll listings if they have passed all courses with the prescribed quarter average and are enrolled on a full-time basis.
- Students earning unweighted quarter averages of 90.0 or higher will be placed on the High Honor Roll.
- Students earning unweighted quarter averages between 85.0 and 89.99 will be placed on the Honor Roll.
- Student Honor Rolls will be published in local newspapers.
Grade Point Averages: Unweighted & Weighted
A student’s cumulative average is computed at the end of each semester. All completed courses except physical education are included in the student’s cumulative average. Students are not ranked. Each student’s transcript reports an unweighted cumulative average and a weighted cumulative average. The averages are calculated on a 100-point scale. Weights are assigned to honors, Syracuse University, SUNY ESF and Advanced Placement courses. Advanced Placement and college credit courses transferred from other schools are weighted while honors courses transferred from other schools are not weighted. Grades are weighted only for cumulative average calculation. Course weights are not reflected in individual course grades. A GPA distribution indicating the number of students falling within 5-point GPA intervals is printed on the school profile, which accompanies a student’s transcript when applying to colleges. Advanced Placement, SUPA, Honors, Regents, General and Applied course levels are clearly indicated on the student’s transcript.
Transcripts
Transcripts reflect the final averages for all completed courses. In the case of repeated courses, all courses and final averages will be printed on the transcript. However, if a course was repeated, only the course with the highest average will be used to calculate the cumulative average. The cumulative average, SAT, ACT, and AP scores of “3” or higher will be shown on the transcript. SAT and ACT scores may be removed from the transcript at the student’s request.
Testing Requirements for a High School Diploma
The New York State Board of Regents requires that all public school students pass Regents exams in order to graduate from high school. The passing score on Regents examinations for the Regents Diploma or the Advanced Regents Diploma is 65%.
Below is a list of exam requirements for each type of diploma. Students must meet both exam requirements as well as course credit requirements to earn the diploma.
Regents Diploma: Traditional Pathway
Pass five (5) core Regents Exams with scores of 65 or higher
- Any Science Regents Exam
- One Math Regents Exam – usually the Algebra or Geometry Regents Exam
- Global History & Geography Regents Exam
- U.S. History & Govt. Regents Exam
- Comprehensive English Language Arts Regents Exam
Advanced Regents Diploma: Traditional Pathway
Pass the five (5) core Regents Exams plus the following Regents exams with scores of 65 or higher:
- At least one additional Science Regents exam (one of the sciences must be Living Environment)
- Math: Two additional Math Regents Exams (Geometry and Algebra 2 + Trig).
- Second Language Comprehensive Exam or complete a 5-credit approved sequence in Art, Music, Technology or Occupational Education
Additional Pathways to the NYS Regents and Advanced Regents Diploma are outlined at the NYS Education Department website: www.nysed.gov/curriculum-instruction/multiple-pathways
Local Diploma Option
A student identified with a disability through the Committee on Special Education who does not score at least 65 on the required Regents Exams may earn a local diploma by earning a score of 55-64 on the required Regents examinations.
Compensatory Option For Students With Disabilities
A student who has been identified by the Committee on Special Education as having a disability may also earn the Local Diploma if he/she scores between 45-54 on one or more of the five required Regents exams other than English Language Arts or Mathematics exam, and scores 65 or higher on one or more of the required Regents exams, in which case the lower score(s) can be compensated by the higher score(s). A score of at least 55 must be earned on both the English and Mathematics Regents exams. A score of 65 or higher on a single examination may not be used to compensate for more than one examination for which a score of 45-54 is earned.
Regular Education students must pass all required exams with scores of at least 65% to earn either the Regents or Advanced Regents diploma. A local diploma may be issued to a Regular Education student only through an appeal process.
Appeal Process
A student who earns a score of 60-64 on up to two required Regents exams after at least 2 attempts to pass the exam, may file an appeal to request that the score be accepted as a passing score.
Any student (Regular Education or a student with a disability) may request an appeal for up to 2 Regents exams with scores of 60-64. If an appeal is granted for one Regents exam, and all other required Regents exam scores are 65 or higher, the student may earn a Regents Diploma. If appeals are granted for two Regents exams, and all remaining required Regents exam scores are 65 or higher, the student may earn the Local Diploma.
A student who has been identified by the Committee on Special Education as having a disability may appeal up to two Regents exams with scores from 52-54. If an identified student is granted appeals for one or two Regents exams and scores 55 or higher on the remaining required exams, the student will earn the Local Diploma.
Eligible English Language Learners may earn the Local Diploma via appeal by either scoring 65 or higher on 4 core Regents examinations plus earning an English Regents score of at least 55 or by scoring 65 or higher on 3 core Regents examinations plus 1 core Regents exam score of 60-64 for which an appeal has been granted and an English Regents examination score of at least 55.
Multiple Pathways to Graduation: 4 +1 Option – Regents or Local Diploma
Under certain special circumstances, a student who passes four (4) required Regents exams or NYSED Approved Alternatives (including at least the English Regents exam, 1 math Regents exam, 1 science Regents exam and 1 social studies Regents exam), may replace the 5th required Regents exam (a social studies Regents exam) with any one (1) of the following:
- Completion of the CDOS credential
- Passing score (including scores deemed as passing by appeal) on an additional math or science Regents exam or NYSED approved alternative.
- Passing a NYSED approved CTE Pathways assessment and successfully completing an approved CTE program
For a detailed summary of all NYS approved graduation options, please refer to the chart at the following New York State Education Department website: http://www.nysed.gov/common/nysed/files/currentdiplomarequirements.pdf
Students and parents are encouraged to review their graduation plan with their School Counselor to determine if they qualify for the Traditional Pathway, the Appeals process, the Multiple Pathways to graduation, or the Compensatory Option, as the NYS Education Department often makes adjustments to these graduation plans.
Exemptions due to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency
Students granted an exemption from any examination due to COVID-19 are not required to pass such specific examinations to meet the assessment requirements for any diploma type. Reference the following FAQs: June /August 2020, January 2021, June /August 2021, and January 2022 (USHG only).
Jamesville-DeWitt Graduation Requirements
English
- Advanced Regents Diploma
- Credits: 4
- Testing: Must pass Regents Comp. Exam in English (Gr. 11)
- Regents Diploma
- Credits: 4
- Testing: Must pass Regents Comp. Exam in English (Gr. 11)
Social Studies
- Advanced Regents Diploma
- Credits: 4
- Testing: Must pass Regents Exam in US History (Gr. 11) and Regents exam in Global History (Gr. 10)
- Regents Diploma
- Credits: 4
- Testing: Must pass Regents Exam in US History (Gr. 11) and Regents Exam in Global History (Gr. 10)
Mathematics
- Advanced Regents Diploma
- Credits: 3
- Testing: Must pass 3 Math Regents Exams.
- Regents Diploma
- Credits: 3
- Testing: Must pass one Math Regents Exam.
Science
- Advanced Regents Diploma
- Credits: 3
- Testing: Must pass 2 Regents Exams in Science, including “Living Environment” (Gr. 9 & 10)
- Regents Diploma
- Credits: 3
- Testing: Must pass 1 Regents Exam in Science (Gr. 9)
Languages Other Than English (LOTE)
- Advanced Regents Diploma
- Credits: 3*
- Testing: Must pass Comprehensive Exam in 2nd Lang. (Gr. 10)
- Regents Diploma
- Credits: 1
- Testing: All students must either pass 8th Grade Prof. Exam in 2nd Language or earn 1 credit of 2nd Lang. at the high school
Art
- Advanced Regents Diploma
- Credits: 1
- Regents Diploma
- Credits: 1
Health
- Advanced Regents Diploma
- Credits: .5
- Regents Diploma
- Credits: .5
Physical Education
- Advanced Regents Diploma
- Credits: 2
- Regents Diploma
- Credits: 2
Electives
- Advanced Regents Diploma
- Credits: 1.5
- Regents Diploma
- Credits: 3.5
Total Credits
- Advanced Regents Diploma
- Credits: 22
- Regents Diploma
- Credits: 22
The exam is typically taken in the grade noted in parentheses. Individual student programs may vary. Passing score for all Regents Examinations is 65 to meet exam requirements for the Regents or Advanced Regents Diplomas.
College bound students are recommended to complete four years of science, mathematics and second language in order to fulfill admission requirements for many colleges and universities.
Local Diploma Option: Students identified through the Committee on Special Education may earn a local diploma by scoring at least 55 on the five core Regents Exams. Regular education students may appeal for a local diploma if up to two of the five required Regents exam scores are between 60-64 and the three remaining Regents exam scores are 65 or higher.
* For an Advanced Regents Diploma, the three-credit Second Language requirement can be waived for students who complete five credits in Occupational Education, art or music PLUS one credit in a second language. Occupational Education includes technology education and BOCES.
English Language Learners
English Language Learners may earn the Local Diploma via appeal by either scoring 65 or higher on 4 Regents Exams plus earning an ELA Regents Score of at least 55 or by scoring 65 or higher on 3 core Regents Exams plus 1 core Regents Exam with a score of 60-64 and an ELA score of at least 55 and then receiving approval via appeal. Additional Pathways to graduation may be found at: http://www.p12.nysed.gov/ciai/multiple-pathways/
For a detailed summary of all NYS approved graduation options, including information about the Compensatory Safety Option for students with disabilities and the Regents Exam appeal process, please refer to the chart at the following New York State Education Department website: http://www.nysed.gov/common/nysed/files/currentdiplomarequirements.pdf