The Alternative Education Committee and the Board of Education recently made changes to the previous graduation requirements to support students who have felt the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The graduation requirements for the classes of 2021 and 2022 have been adjusted. For the class of 2021 the elective requirements have been changed from 10.5 credits to 8.5 credits. For the class of 2022 the elective requirements have changed to 9.5 credits instead of 10.5. All the graduating classes starting at 2023 will go back to the normal 10.5 elective credits. These changes will make it so students falling behind due to unforeseen circumstances get the extra help they need.

In addition to reducing the credits needed there will also be credit recovery available to the students who need it. St. Charles High along with St. Charles West will begin serving students who have one or two core area class(es) that need to be recovered in order to stay on track for graduation.  This adjustment will allow more students to recover credits, and the Success Campus will be able to continue focusing on students that have multiple classes that need to be repeated to earn graduation credit. 

Students that need additional credits that they have originally failed will have the option to work on one course at a time outside of the normal school day. They will complete the class in addition to their full-time course schedule. Students will work on the essential content and skills of the courses that they previously failed.  Beginning in March, students will work through the online Edmentum courses that are set up and aligned to our district curriculum.  When the students show mastery of all of the essential content for the course taken, they will receive a PASS for the class on their transcript.  This allows them to earn the graduation credit, but it does not change their GPA or replace the previous F on the transcript.  Since the students are not fully repeating these courses, they will be noted as CREDIT RECOVERY on the transcript.  

A summer session of the credit recovery Edmentum program will be offered for students who need to recover graduation credit for courses that they have previously failed.  As listed above, successful completion of these courses will receive a PASS on the transcript to earn the graduation credit, but it will not change a student’s GPA or replace the previous F for that course.  These courses will also be denoted as CREDIT RECOVERY on the transcript.

High school students who are eligible to take virtual courses are allowed to take up to 2 semester classes through the MoCAP LAUNCH program.  These virtual courses are the full class and will be transcribed as normal high school courses. 

With these changes being implemented and the additional opportunities for credit recovery it makes these tough times easier for students.