State College Area High School Parent Night and

State College Area High School Parent Night and Curriculum Showcase January 20, 2016

This Evening’s Agenda Time 6: 30 7: 308: 30 Session Location Welcome and Introductions Ninth Grade Learning Community Auditorium (for upcoming Gr. 9 Par and Prospective Parents) Scheduling Guidelines from Counselors North Library (for upcoming Gr. 10, 11, 12 Parents) Curricular displays: English, Social Studies, Math, CTC & Elective Course Table Displays Auxiliary Gym Science displays Counselors available for consultation/questions Counseling Office

9 th Grade Learning Community “No 9 th Grade Student Left Unknown” Students: have same elective choices. schedules will look the same. will not have “team” activities. Teachers will have/teach: collaborative time (120 -130 shared students) to focus on individual student achievement/struggles, analyzing data, and working on transition curriculum. Transition curriculum infused into the content of the 4 cohort teacher’s current curriculum. Positive School Wide Behavior Support program will

Other information: Cohort content areas: English, Science, Social Studies, and Health/PE Success this year: New bell schedule/more elective opportunities, more collaboration time around student needs, better connections and collaborations with home Plans for next year: Continue to look for ways to decrease student stress, improved tutoring center

State College Area High School Meet the Coordinators ● English: Christine Merritt ● Science: Todd Mc. Pherson ● Math: Bill Harrington ● Social Studies: Jackie Saylor ● Health/PE/FCS: Steve Kurzinger ● Music: Paul Leskowicz ● Art: Danielle Crowe ● World Language: Rick Polka ● Library: Dotty Delafield/Paije Davis ● Counseling: Susan Marshall ● Director of the CTC: Sharon Perry

Course Selection and Registration for Class of 2020 January 2016 Susan Marshall - Head Counselor, grades 9 -12 Patricia Devecka- 9 th grade counselor (A-K) Suzanne Lyke - 9 th grade counselor (L-Z)

General Registration Timeline ⦿ February 1, 2016 - an email will be sent home with course recommendations from current teachers and with directions for using the course selection guide to make your course requests for the 2016 -2017 school year. ⦿ Parents/Guardians may contact teachers with questions regarding course recommendations. ⦿ Students and/or parents/guardians can make appointments with their current school counselor with questions re: scheduling or registration. ⦿ Student course requests are due by March 4, 2016 through HAC ⦿ Aug. 1 - 12: schedules can be viewed online with a limited window to request course changes. An email will be sent to all students with directions on how to view schedules and directions to request course changes. **Schedule changes are very restricted after August 12, 2016. *FRESHMEN ORIENTATION IN AUGUST

Two Points of View ⦿Short Term: What you need to know to effectively plan your classes for next year? ⦿Long Term: What you need to know & think about in order to effectively plan for the next four years of high school? For life after high school?

Minimum Graduation Requirements ⦿ 4 credits each of English and Social Studies ⦿ 3 credits each of Science and Math ⦿ Physical Education each year in high school ⦿ Health/Wellness Classes in 9 th/10 th and 11 th/12 th Grade (2 courses) ⦿ In-class Driver’s Education ⦿ Graduation Project ⦿ Community Service (20 Hours) ⦿ Electives (5. 5 credits) ⦿ Total of 22. 50 credits See page 7 of course selection guide.

Helping your student to request courses: ⦿ 8 th - 11 th grade counselors will be meeting with all students in Social Studies classes to present course registration information and help with the course selection process during the first 2 and a half weeks in February. ⦿ 2/3/16: Current 12 th grade counselors present to PFMS 8 th grade students. ⦿ 2/10/16: Current 12 th grade counselors present to MNMS 8 th grade students. ⦿ 2/18/16: State High and Delta counselors and Registrars Office present registration process to 8 th grade Delta, Charter, OLV, and private schools/families. ⦿ Mid - March: course requests snail mailed home for one last look and opportunity to change requests for next year. ⦿ March 30, 2016: HAC Course Request Window closes.

A/B Block Scheduling and 9 th grade schedules: Day A Day B 1. 1 -1. 2 Math 5. 1 - 5. 2 World History 2. 1 - 2. 1 English 6. 1 Band 6. 2 Choir 3. 1 LUNCH (30 mins) 7. 1 Science 3. 2 - 3. 3 *Phys Ed 9 (Fall)/*Health 1 (Spring) 7. 2 LUNCH (30 mins) 4. 1 World Language (if 4 -year college bound) 8. 1 Elective(s) 7. 3 Science sign up for 6 full blocks at a minimum *Semester Courses Please see page 9 in the Course Selection Guide for essential 9 th grade scheduling guidelines !

Additional Considerations ⦿ Colleges Have Different Requirements (and it depends on what you want to study) • • World Language – typically two years are required as a minimum. Math - Trig/Precalc. for Science, Eng, Business, IST Science - are you pursuing health/medical careers? Fine Arts - colleges in California require it. Requirements For NCAA – 16 Core Courses for Division I & II (NCAA. org) ⦿ look for the NCAA designation in our course selection guide. See page 8 of course selection guide. ⦿

Reading and Using the Course Selection Guide: - Year long courses that meet every other day for a full block (90 mins) = 1. 0 credit. Semester long courses that meet every other day for a full block =. 5 credits (Music) courses that meet every day, year long and for a half block (45 mins) =. 5 credit. Advanced and AP Science classes that meet for a full block every other day for one semester and everyday during the other semester = 1. 50 credits. Page 10 covers Graduation Project guidelines, Community Service and the Keystone Exams in more detail. Page 12 contains a Graduation Planning Guide for those of you that want to start mapping out the next four years of high school. Page 13 contains a Student Schedule Worksheet that you can use to make sure you have enough, but not too many courses selected. First half of the Course Selection Guide is curricular courses by alphabet and second half is CTC courses where many additional elective courses are found Example: F 111 - FALL Semester class S 222 - SPRING Semester Class Y 333 - YEAR Long Class. 50 - Credit or 1. 0 Credit *Prerequisites are ALWAYS mandatory

Symbols found in the Guide What do they mean ?

HOW TO REQUEST COURSES ⦿ Log on to Home Access Center http: //www. scasd. org/hac ⦿ Recommendations will be pre-loaded. ⦿ Choose electives by priority. ⦿ You must have at least 6. 0 credits on your schedule (3 out of 4 blocks/day at minimum). ⦿ Changes to recommended courses require parent signature on the course recommendation change form (see your counselor or download it from the website).

Remember ⦿ Follow your teacher recommendations. ⦿ Talk with your current counselor if you have more questions. ⦿ Talk over your course selection with your parents/guardians. ⦿ You are building your high school transcript which will be used for college, job, military and scholarship opportunities. Grades count! ⦿ Get involved In clubs, sports and activities.

Contact Information Thank you for attending! Feel free to email or call us with questions: Counseling Offices: (814)231 -5050 South (814)231 -1130 North smb 11@scasd. org for general questions