Students > Student Handbook > General Information > Graduation Requirements

Each student in grades 9 through 12 must carry a full schedule to be classified as a full-time student. A full schedule consists of 7 credits for 9th – 11th grades and 6.5 credits for 12th grade students. In exceptional cases, a student may be allowed to carry fewer credits with the approval of the principal. Promotion from one grade to the next, and ultimately graduation, will be based on the satisfactory completion of individual courses.

In order to be eligible for graduation, each student must satisfactorily complete a minimum number of course credits in grades 9-12. The basic graduation credit requirements for the classes of 2012 through 2014 are indicated below. The graduation requirements for the class of 2015 and beyond are listed at the end of this section.

	Classes of 2012	Class of 2013	Class of 2014
English	4.0	4.0	4.0
Mathematics	3.01	4.0	4.0
Science	4.01	4.06	4.06
Social Studies	4.02,3	4.02,3	4.02,3
Arts (Art, Music, Theater)	1.02	1.02	n/a
Arts & Design	n/a	n/a	1.0
Business	1.02	1.02	n/a
Career Exploration	n/a	n/a	0.5
Personal Finance	n/a	n/a	0.5
Family & Consumer Science	0.252	0.52	0.52
Physical Education	2.02	2.02	n/a
Health	0.52,4	0.52,4	n/a
Wellness	n/a	n/a	2.02,5
Technology	n/a	1.0	1.0
Graduation Project	0.52	0.52	0.52
Electives	3.75	3.5	5.0
Total	24.0	26.0	27.0

¹ = Must pass Biology or Biology B; a 4th math credit may be substituted for the 4th science credit
² = May be taken at North Montco Technical Career Center
³ = Must pass 19th Century US History, 20th Century US History or AP US History OR AP Government, and Global Studies or AP Human Geography
⁴ = Must pass 11th Grade Health (Health I)
⁵ = Must pass Phys. Ed. I and Health I
⁶ = Must pass Science 9 and Biology or Biology B

Increased Graduation Requirements for the Class of 2013 and 2014
Class of 2013 (26 credits to graduate) - The changes from the classes 2012 and before are:

• Students need to earn four (4.0) credits in Science and four (4.0) credits in Math.
• Students need to earn one (1.0) Technology credit by successfully completing one of the specified technology rich courses.
• Students need to successfully complete one of the specified courses in Family and Consumer Sciences which contains the unit on child health and consumer issues.
• Students must earn 3.5 elective credits.

Class of 2014 (27 credits to graduate) - The changes from the class 2013 are:

• Students need to successfully complete Career Exploration (.5 credit) during their 9th grade year.
• Students need to successfully complete Personal Finance (.5 credit) during their 11th or 12th grade years.
• Students no longer need to earn 1.0 credit in Business.
• Students must earn 2.0 credits in Wellness, which include Physical Education I (.5 credit) and Health I (.5 credit).
• Students need to earn 1.0 Art/Design credit by successfully completing one of the specified Art/Design courses.
• Students must earn 5.0 elective credits.

Graduation Requirements for Class of 2015 and Beyond

Beginning with the Class of 2015, graduating students may earn one of three diplomas:

Standard Diploma (28 credits) – Earned by students who satisfy all of the requirements for the Diploma indicated below, but have not satisfied the requirements for a Pathway or Scholars Diploma.

Pathway Diploma (29 credits) – Earned by students who satisfy all of the requirements of the Pathway Diploma indicated for their chosen Career Pathway.

Scholars Diploma (29 credits) – Earned by students who attain the highest levels of academic achievement indicated by fulfilling all of the requirements for the Scholars Diploma listed below.

Because fulfillment of requirements cannot be determined until all final grades are complete, the designation of the diploma will be determined after graduation. Souderton Area High School believes that the transcript that students build in attempt to earn a Pathway or Scholars Diploma will make them the most competitive graduates.

Courses which fulfill the 1.0 Technology Credit Requirement for the class of 2013 and beyond:

• CAD I
• Desktop Publishing
• Digital Media Design & Prod.
• Graphic Design & Prod.
• Digital. Video Editing
• Engineering
• Robotics Engineering
• TV Production
• Cisco I & II
• Music Technology
• Journalism
• Yearbook
• Information Processing
• Introduction to Video Game Programming
• Photography
• Visual Basic

Courses which fulfill the Family and Consumer Sciences graduation requirement for the class of 2013 and beyond:

• Food & Nutrition
• Child Development; Pre-School Lab I
• Clothing & Textiles
• Interior Design
• Introduction to Clothing & Textiles
• Contemporary Fashion
• Independent Living

Courses which fulfill the Art/Design graduation requirement for the class of 2014:

• Graphic Design
• Photography
• Multimedia
• Interior Design
• CAD I
• 3-D Anim. & Video Comp.
• Digital Media Design & Production
• Graphic Design & Production
• Digital Video Editing
• Television Production
• Music Theory I
• Music Technology
• Music Ensembles
• Intro to Clothing and Textiles
• Clothing and Textiles 1
• Contemporary Fashion
• Theater Arts
• Introduction to Video Game Programming

Promotion
Each student in grades 9 through 12 must carry a full schedule of at least 7 credits each year in order to be classified as a full time student.*

In order to graduate on time with your class, the following credits must be earned

• Grade 10: Completion of at least 5 cumulative courses/credits
• Grade 11: Completion of at least 11 cumulative courses/credits
• Grade 12: Completion of at least 17 cumulative courses/credits. A student must be able to schedule all courses required for graduation in order to be placed in a Senior Advisory.

* = does not apply to seniors graduating in January of senior year