Counselor

Board Policy 6146.1 High School Graduation Requirements

Note: Transfer students who have earned 13 unit credits in another district may, at the district’s discretion, be excused from the district’s subject area units-of-credits requirements. 4 AAC 06.075.
Failure to take a college and career readiness assessment shall not be grounds for withholding a diploma from an otherwise qualified student. At the request of a student, the district shall retroactively issue a high school diploma to a student who did not receive on because of failure to pass all or a portion of the previously required High School Graduation Qualifying Exam and instead received a certificate of achievement, provided the person takes a college and career readiness assessment. AS14.03.075. A person may satisfy the assessment pursuant to the regulations in 4 AAC 06.718. The district is to mail a notice of this option to each such student who qualifies for a diploma to the student’s last known address.

Graduation with a Valdez High School Diploma will be predicated on successful completion of 24 credits. The specific minimum requirements are:
4 credits of English from any combination of the following list are required.
•    English 9
•    English 10
•    English 11
•    English 12
•    College English 111
•    College English 211
•    Applied Communications

Three (3) credits of Math are required while enrolled in High School (one of which must be Algebra I or above) (To take affect at the initiation of the 2023-2024 school year for the graduating class of 2025 and all classes following). Three (3) credits of Science are required. Physical Science and Biology are required.

Three and a half (3.5) credits of Social Science are required
•    Government/Economics
•    U.S. History
•    Alaska History
•    World History
Please Note: College Political Science 101/102 may be substituted for Government/Economics.

All students are required to take 1.5 credits (three semesters) of Physical Education and .5 credit (one semester) of Health while attending high school. Two semesters (one credit) of Physical Education requirements can be earned by fully participating in sanctioned Valdez High School athletics. Students may obtain .5 credits of Physical Education for two (2) full seasons of Valdez School District sports participation. They will receive this credit as determined by their coach. A maximum of 1.0 credit of the Physical Education requirement is available upon successful completion of 4 seasons of sanctioned Valdez City Schools Athletics. All students will be required to take one semester (.5 credits) of Physical Education and one semester of Health as a class.

Currently sanctioned athletics at Valdez High School include:
•    Basketball
•    Football
•    Volleyball
•    Cross Country Skiing
•    Swimming
•    Cheerleading
•    Cross Country Running
•    Track and Field
•    Baseball
•    Native Youth Olympics (NYO)
•    Softball
•    Soccer
•    Rifle

8.5 credits of Electives are required.

Students are required to enroll in and complete at least six credits during each of their four years of high school. (To take effect at the initiation of the 2023-2024 school year for the graduating class of 2025 and all classes following)

Students who have successfully completed the course of study required by the Valdez Board of Education will be eligible to receive a VHS diploma and participate in graduation exercises. Any student wishing to graduate less than 8 semesters must petition the Superintendent for early graduation at least one full semester before they wish to graduate.

The Superintendent will establish administrative regulations for exemptions to graduation requirements.

*Note: Beginning January 1, 2009, the three units of credit in social studies must include one-half unit in Alaska History or demonstration that the student meets the Alaska History performance standards. This requirement will not apply to a student who (1) transfers into your school after the student’s second year of high school; or (2) has already successfully completed a high school state history course in another state. 4 AAC 06.075.

Come back soon to review a newly-updated VHS Program of Study!

Beginning with the Class of 2021, the Valdez School Board updated Board Policy 5121.17 Grades/Evaluations of Student Achievement to redefine how students are ranked, based on the number of credits available to earn in a standard school day, not the actual number of credits earned.

The policy reads:

Class Ranking - Class rank will be calculated at the completion of a minimum of 6 semesters, and based on a maximum of 21 class credits for Juniors and 28 class credits for Seniors. Those who earn more than that number of credits will select which elective credits to omit in calculating their class ranking. Junior class ranking scores will be calculated by dividing the total number of grade points earned in those 21 (or fewer) credits by 21. Senior class ranking scores for graduation will be calculated by dividing the total number of grade points earned in the chosen 28 (or fewer) credits by 28.

 *This may impact the ranks for the top 10% of juniors when designating UA Scholars.  It may also impact Valedictorian and Salutatorian honors at graduation and may influence some scholarship applications.