Road to Graduation

Do you feel that you are:

• On track to graduate?
• Almost on track to graduate?
• Way off track from graduation?
• Not sure where you are?

Looking at New York City’s High School Graduation Requirements may help you to have a better picture of where you stand. All scheduled classes must have a passing grade of 65 and above for full credit. (Failing any scheduled class can throw you off track and cause colleges to rescind your acceptance.)

EPIC At a Glance: 

• School Year:  Semester based
  • Term 1: Fall Semester September - January 
  • Term 2: Spring  February - June 
• Mid-Year Report: Colleges began requesting mid-year academic reports. 
• You have an opportunity to improve failing grades. 

How Do I Earn Credit at EPIC North? 

• 3 Marking Periods = 1 Semester
• 2 Semesters = 1 school year 
  • All your classes, for all 3 marking periods, are averaged out, and, if you get a 65 or higher, you’ll pass the semester and receive credit for the class. 
• 65 = just passing, you want to receive a 70 or higher in your classes
   

Now that we understand how credit is earned, let's explore the bigger matter of graduation requirements. 

From this screen shot we note that 44 credits are required for graduation. Those credits need to address specific curricular areas. Often, students, unaware of these requirements, may think they don't need a class when they --in fact-- do. 44 credits are the minimum you need to graduate, colleges and trade schools look for more than that. Additionally, it is crucially important to point out that not only are credits required for graduation, but there are Regents requirements as well. 

As noted in the screen shot above, there are specific Regents requirements based on 3 tiers of graduation requirements. There is a local diploma (for eligible students), a (regular) Regents diploma, and an advanced Regents diploma. To help make understanding the "+1" options more clear, consider the following: 

The additional Regents options + 1 

• Social Studies:  Global History or US History, whichever one you don’t yet have...
• Math: Algebra II, Geometry
• Science: Earth Science, Chemistry, Living Environment, whichever one you don’t yet have...
• LOTE: Spanish

In short, at a minimum, here's what you need: 5 passed Regents @ 65 and above! 

A less commonly known graduation fact is that you need extra curricular activities. These include things like: 

• Jobs
• Internships 
• Clubs/Sports
• Community Service and volunteering 
• AP Classes & high level classes are not an extracurricular activity, but are classes that show you challenged yourself as a student 

All of these are extracurricular activities are needed for you college applications!!! 

Hopefully this article helps to demystify the road to graduation. We also hope it helps our students and their families to put things into perspective.