FALLSTON HIGH SCHOOL REGISTRATION SUPPLEMENT

Transcription

1 FALLSTON HIGH SCHOOL REGISTRATION SUPPLEMENT

2 INTRODUCTION The information presented on the following pages will assist you in your educational planning. With the help of your parents, you should examine carefully your present interests and your post-graduate goals. With the consent of your parents, you should select a program of studies to include courses appropriate to your goals. STATE GRADUATION REQUIRMENTS Please be certain to review carefully the state graduation requirements in the Harford County Public Schools Student Education Planning Guide which can be found online at HCPS.org. REGISTRATION POLICY: A. All students must select enough courses to fill an eight period day and several (3-4) alternatives listed by priority in case a particular selected course is not available. If you do not include alternates you will be assigned to an available course. The eight period day adds importance to the selection of alternatives. B. Orientation and pre-registration will be held from February (Feb 6-10 for 8 th Grade) A counselor will visit appropriate classes and: 1. Explain courses to be offered. 2. Discuss state requirements for graduation. 3. Outline college admission requirements. C. Students will receive recommendations from Math, Science, Social Studies, World Language, and English/Language Arts teachers concerning proper course selection. Counselors and teachers will verify student selection. Student and parents will, however, be charged with the responsibility of making the final decision. Attention should be given to the importance of a balanced, sequential program in such areas as Social Studies, Math, and Science. D. Student course selections will be entered from March 13 March 31, (March 1-3 for 8 th Grade) E. Students may enroll only in those courses for which they are eligible. Students will be withdrawn from courses which are inappropriate to their grade level or for which they have not completed prerequisites. F. All elective courses are offered tentatively and require a minimum student enrollment and the availability of a professional educator. G. Circumstances may require the modification of a student s schedule and the school reserves the right to make individual schedule adjustments. H. The following documents will help students with planning and making their course selections: 1. The HCPS Student Education Planning Guide: School Year, found on HCPS.org* or Fallston High School s Edline page**. 2. Fallston High School Registration Supplement found on the Fallston High School s Edline page**. *HCPS.org, Parents/Academics or Students/Academics **FHS Edline, Departments/School Counseling Office 1

3 POLICY ON SCHEDULE CHANGES Course selection and registration requires the serious attention and commitment to that decision by the student and his/her parents. The school s master schedule is built based on student s course requests. This determines the number of sections needed for all courses, whether or not electives will be offered, and possible staffing implications. Therefore, requests for schedule changes will not be honored except for the following reasons: 1. To meet graduation requirements; 2. To correct an error on the school s part; 3. To accommodate summer school completion of a course; 4. Course prerequisite not met; 5. To facilitate an administrative change by the school necessitated by the course cancellations, balancing class sizes, changes In professional staff, etc. It is expected that students will rarely have to withdraw from a course during the year. If this becomes necessary, a careful review of the circumstances will be conducted. If a request is approved, the course grade at the time of withdrawal will be recorded on the student s permanent record/transcript card. Students receiving approval to withdraw from a full year course are required to complete the semester and to enroll during the second semester in a ½ credit semester course. COUNSELING SERVICES School Counseling Services at Fallston High School are extremely important in helping individuals grow in the direction of meaningful academic and personal fulfillment. It is the commitment of the department to work toward that objective along with students, teachers, parents and others when necessary and appropriate. On occasion, because of needs identified through the counseling office or other staff members, students will be notified of an appointment. If students wish to initiate an appointment, they should fill out the appointment request form located in the counseling office before school, during lunch or after school. The student will be scheduled as soon as possible by the appropriate counselor. Parents may make an appointment by calling and asking to speak to the appropriate counselor. Counselors Student Last Name: A-G Ms. L. Brown LaWanda.Brown@hcps.org H-O Ms. G. Re Gina.Re@hcps.org P-Z Ms. L. Schafer Lauren. Schafer@hcps.org 2

4 HONORS PROGRAM Courses designated as Honors Courses are intended to follow the same curriculum as regular courses but will provide differentiated instruction, are expected to be more rigorous, and pursue topics in greater depth. The criteria for recommendations include teacher proposal, standardized test scores and previous grades, etc. Among other characteristics, self-motivation and the ability to work independently are also required. Recommendation of current instructor is required. With sufficient enrollment, the following Honors Courses will be offered during the School year. Honors English I Honors English II Honors Amer. Government Honors Earth Science Honors Biology Honors Chemistry Honors Physics Honors Int. Algebra II Honors Trigonometry Honors Pre-Calculus ADVANCED PLACEMENT COURSES GRADES 10, 11, & 12 The Advanced Placement Program gives students the opportunity to pursue college-level studies while still in secondary school and to receive advanced placement and credit, or one of these, upon entering college. This program offers the student more challenging and demanding course content. Upon completing these rigorous courses students may take the Advanced Placement tests administered in May by the Educational Testing Services. There is a student fee for each test taken. Successful completion of the test is accepted by most major colleges as evidence of sophomore status in the particular test field. ADVANCED PLACEMENT COURSES, BY PHILOSOPHY AND DESIGN, REQUIRE A GREATER COMMITMENT OF STUDENT TIME AND A MORE THOROUGH UNDERSTANDING OF THE SUBJECT MATTER THAN REGULAR OR HONORS COURSES. With sufficient enrollment, the following advanced placement courses are offered at Fallston High School and may be elected by students: AR2271 AP Studio Art 2D Design EN0571 AP English Language and Composition EN0671 AP English Literature and Composition FL0671 AP French FL1271 AP Spanish FL1871 AP German MA1371 AP Calculus AB MA1471 AP Calculus BC MA1671 AP Statistics MA1771 AP Computer Science MU2871 AP Music Theory SC0371 AP Biology SC0572 AP Chemistry SC0771 AP Physics I SC6171 AP Physics II SC1071 AP Environmental Science SS0371 AP World History (meets the graduation requirement for World History) SS0471 AP European History SS0671 AP U.S. History SS0771 AP American Government & Politics SS0971 AP Psychology SS2171 AP Human Geography SS3471 AP Microeconomics SS3571 AP Macroeconomics TE4071 AP Computer Science Principles (available for grades 9-12) AP and Honors courses will be noted on schedules and transcripts of those students selected for these courses. Certain courses identified by HCPS may receive weighted quality point value. 3

5 SPECIALIZED PROGRAMS FOR SENIORS** Five Special programs are available to seniors, however, each program requires that the student initiate some action in order to participate. There are no guarantees of acceptance; consequently, these choices do not take the place of alternates. If interested in any program, the directions, which follow this section should be followed. Waiver Program full time or part time Master Tutor Students may apply to be a Master Tutor for one credit. Master Tutors will have the opportunity to work with small groups/teams of students who are assigned to cooperative/collaborative classes or to special education classes for one period of the day. Master Tutors will also be involved in a special tutorial program available to the students in these classes before school. Students must complete an application and obtain parent approval, recommendations/signatures of a teacher and a School Counselor. Attendance and grades will also be considered in the evaluations of the application. An orientation session for students entering the Master Tutor Program will be offered in the summer to review the roles of Master Tutors and to learn basic leadership skills, cooperative techniques and tutorial procedures. Student Assistant Program Students in their senior year may apply to serve as student assistant one period a day on a non-credit basis as a department aide or in the Main Office, Counseling Office, Media Center or Health Suite. Any student interested in applying to be a student assistant should fill in the Special Program Requests section of the Course Request Form. Since there are only a limited number of student assistant positions available, students should select their eighth course carefully in the event that they are not selected for the student assistant program. Students selected must have a contract signed by a parent and department chairperson indicating department endorsement. MFRI Fire and Rescue Cadet Program 4 Credits Qualified juniors may apply for enrollment in the MRFI Fire and Rescue Cadet Program during senior year. Each cadet will select one of two tracks: Fire-Rescue or EMS-Rescue. To apply, students must work with their school counselor for pre-screening and continue the application process with the Harford County Volunteer Fire and EMS Association. Applications are available in the School Counseling Office. *Students who enroll in the EMS-Rescue track are encouraged to enroll in Advanced Health and Anatomy & Physiology to supplement their MFRI training. **Seniors interested in any of these programs should place a check in the appropriate space on their course request forms. NOTES: 4