Ledyard Public Schools - Policy Manual

Graduation Requirements
Only those students who have earned the appropriate number and distribution of credits and have satisfactorily met the District’s Performance Graduation Requirements shall receive a diploma from Ledyard High School.

At the beginning of the school year, students and their parents/guardians shall be notified of the requirements to graduate from Ledyard High School. Notification shall also be given whenever there is a significant change to this policy or to any of the graduation requirements.

Credit Distribution Requirement
Students must earn a total of twenty-six (26) credits as specified in the following subject areas:

Subject	Required Credits and Courses
English	4 credits
Mathematics	3 credits
Social Studies for the class of 2013 and 2014	3.5 credits, including:	- World History (1 credit) - U.S. History I and II (2 credits) - Government (0.5 credit)
Social Studies for the class of 2015 and beyond	3 credits, including:	- World History (1 credit) - U.S. History (1 credit) - Civics (1 credit)
Science	3 credits, including:	- Biology (1 credit) - Chemistry (1 credit) - Environmental Science (0.5 credit)
Math or Science	1 additional credit
Physical Education	1 credit
Vocational and/or Fine Arts	2 credits
Health	0.5 credit
Electives for the class of 2013 and 2014	8 credits
Electives for the Class of 2015 & beyond	8.5 credits

One credit courses meet three days a week for the entire academic year. Half-credit courses meet three days a week for one semester.

The Ledyard High School administration shall delineate the classification of courses by subject area, establish the minimum number of course credits a student must carry each year, and make other such requirements as deemed necessary to administer this policy.

Credit for Courses Completed in Addition to Those at Ledyard High School
Credit toward satisfying the graduation requirements at Ledyard High School shall be granted in the following circumstances:

Credits earned from a public or private high school prior to enrollment at Ledyard High School.
Credit toward meeting a specified course requirement upon successful completion in grade seven or eight of any course, the primary focus of which corresponds directly to the subject matter of a specified course requirement in grades nine to twelve.
Credit toward meeting high school graduation requirements upon the successful completion of a world language course (a) in grade six, seven or eight, (b) through on-line coursework, or (c) offered privately through a nonprofit provide, provided the student achieves a passing grade on an examination prescribed by the Commissioner of Education. No more than four credits earned in such manner shall be counted toward meeting the graduation requirements.
Credit toward meeting high school graduation requirements upon achievement of a passing grade on a subject area proficiency examination identified and approved by the Commissioner of Education, regardless of the number of hours the student spent in a public school classroom learning such subject matter.
Credit toward meeting high school graduation requirements upon the successful completion of coursework at an institution accredited by the Department of Higher Education or regionally accredited (see Note below). One three-credit semester course, or its equivalent, completed at such institution shall equal one-half (0.5) credit toward the graduation requirements.
Credit toward meeting high school graduation requirements upon the successful completion of on-line coursework offered through (a) a secondary school or other educational institution accredited by the Department of Education, or (b) an institution of higher learning that is accredited by the Department of Higher Education or regionally accredited (see Note below).
Credits earned for courses passed during participation in an approved foreign exchange program.

Note: Ledyard High School students desiring to take either a course at another educational institution or an on-line course for credit toward meeting the high school graduation requirements (per sections 5 and 6, above) must receive prior approval from the Ledyard High School administration to take the course to be eligible to receive the credit.

In cases where there is any disagreement between the student’s parent/guardian and the Ledyard High School administration regarding the granting of credit toward the graduation requirements, the Superintendent shall make the final determination.

Credit for Community Service
A student enrolled in any grade at Ledyard High School may be awarded one-half (0.5) credit toward the elective graduation requirement for the satisfactory completion of community service. The community service must be supervised by a certified school administrator or teacher, consist of not less than fifty hours of actual service that may be performed at times when school is not regularly in session, and require not less than ten hours of related classroom instruction. For the purpose of this credit, community service does not include partisan political activities.

Exemption from Physical Education Credit Requirement
Any student who presents a certificate from a physician stating that, in the opinion of the physician, participation in physical education is medically contraindicated because of the physical condition of such student shall be excused from the physical education requirement. In such a case, the physical education credit requirement shall be fulfilled by an elective as determined by the Ledyard High School administration. However, students shall not be excused from the physical education requirement based on a medical condition that the School Medical Advisor determines is temporary in nature. In such cases, the student shall be expected to satisfy the physical education credit requirement after he or she is no longer medically restricted.

Performance Graduation Requirements (PGRs)
1. Reading/Writing PGR – Students shall either (1) score at Level 3 (proficiency) or higher on the Writing Across the Disciplines section or the Reading Across the Disciplines section of the Connecticut Academic Performance Test (CAPT) or (2), prior to the completion of their senior year and within the context of appropriate courses, satisfactorily demonstrate equivalent proficiency through their accumulated work.

2. Problem-Solving PGR – Students shall either (1) score at Level 3 (proficiency) or higher on the Mathematics or Science sections of the CAPT or (2), prior to the completion of their senior year and within the context of appropriate courses, satisfactorily demonstrate equivalent proficiency through their accumulated work.

As part of the regulations developed to implement this policy, the Ledyard High School administration shall specify the required course work for those students who do not successfully meet one or both of the PGRs and the assessment procedures to be used in determining whether or not those students have subsequently met the standard for the District PGRs. These regulations shall also delineate the rubrics to be used in assessing the student’s accumulated work.

Exemptions from the PGRs
1. Transfer students who enroll at Ledyard High School after completing at least three years in an out-of-state high school or an equivalent out-of-state secondary educational institution, including students who have been home-schooled, shall be exempted from having to meet the District’s PGRs as a condition of graduation.

2. Special education students, whose performance is assessed using the CMT/CAPT skills checklist, may be exempted from the Reading/Writing and/or Problem-Solving PGRs by the Pupil Placement Team (PPT). Special education students not using the CMT/CAPT skills checklist may have modifications made to the PGRs or be required to meet alternative performance graduation assessments as determined by the PPT. The decision to exempt a student from the PGRs or require alternative/modified performance graduation assessments shall be based on performance data as documented in the individual student’s evaluations, educational records, and Individualized Education Plan (IEP).
Other requests for exemption/modification to the PGRs shall be handled on a case-by-case basis, with the final determination to be approved by the Superintendent.

Student Transcripts
For each component of the CAPT in which the student scores at Level 4 (Goal) or higher, the student’s score for that component shall be recorded on his or her transcript indicating that the student has met or exceeded the state-wide mastery goal. For each PGR, the student’s transcript will indicate the date it was successfully met.

All courses used to satisfy the high school graduation requirements delineated herein shall be recorded on the student’s transcript. The transcript shall be annotated to indicate those courses not taken at Ledyard High School.

Awarding of Diplomas
Students who meet all the graduation requirements of this policy shall receive a diploma at the June commencement ceremony.

A Ledyard High School diploma shall be awarded upon request to any honorably discharged veteran who left high school prior to graduation in order to serve in the armed forces of the United States during World War II or the Korean hostilities and did not receive a diploma as a consequence of such service.

A student who is under expulsion from Ledyard High School but has satisfactorily completed all of the graduation requirements shall receive a diploma. However, that student shall not attend the commencement ceremony.

Students Attending Out-of-District Programs
Students who are Ledyard residents but are attending regional technical and vocational schools, magnet schools, charter schools, or other out-of-district programs shall receive a diploma from those institutions and must comply with the graduation requirements as specified for those schools. In the absence of specific graduation requirements at the out-of-district locations, the graduation requirements of Ledyard High School must be fulfilled.

Legal References:
Connecticut General Statutes
10-14n. State-wide mastery examination.
10-18. Courses in United States history, government and duties and responsibilities of citizenship.
10-221. Boards of education to prescribe rules, policies and procedures.
10-221a. High school graduation requirements.