FAQ High School Credit

Offering high school courses in middle school is considered one way of providing accelerated and challenging coursework to students.

Your child will earn high school credit. This may allow your child to complete graduation requirements early, allow them to take more elective courses in high school, and provide challenging course work to your child.

Any high school credit that a child earns in middle school is automatically entered into his/her high school transcript. This can have the following effects on your child’s high school record:

• An impact on your child’s high school grade point average
• An impact on your child’s class rank
• An effect on the opportunity of your child earning valedictorian or salutatorian during senior year.

In addition to the impact on grades, students who are not emotionally ready for the rigors of a high school course may develop negative attitudes toward both the content of the course and their abilities in the subject area.

Per the State’s grade forgiveness policy, your child may retake the course in high school.

Grade forgiveness for required courses is limited to replacing a grade of “C”, “D” or “F,” with a grade of “C” or higher earned subsequently in the same or comparable course. F.S. 1003.428

No, F.S. 1003.428 requires that any high school course your child takes in middle school appear on the transcript.

Yes and No. While the rigorous high school coursework in middle school can help prepare your child for the screening samples and tests your child may have to take for admission, our magnet programs do not weight these courses differently than a traditional middle school course.

No, your child can earn all the necessary credits he needs to graduate and go to college without taking high school courses in middle school.

It is important to speak to your child’s counselor, your child’s current teachers, and/or the Assistant Principal for Curriculum at your child’s school. It is also important to involve your child in the decision.

Important factors include:

• Current grades in the subject area
• Interests of your child
• FCAT scores
• Maturity level of your child
• Extracurricular activities in which your child is involved