Basis for Offering Credit May 1997

Notice: This policy was reviewed, revised, and/or renamed. We provide this revision for historic purposes only. Please see our current policies and procedural directives.

This procedural directive was updated January 2023.

Course credit is defined as part of an academic accounting system that provides a degree of uniformity and equity of programs across the District. It is recognized that a certain amount of a student's time spent in class does not ensure him or her a high quality program, but the time factor does provide quantitative guidelines for granting credit.

Credit Hours

Non-lab Courses. A minimum of 250 minutes per week of directed class activity for 36 weeks, or a total of 150 clock hours shall be required for one (1) unit of credit, excluding passing period.

Lab Courses. A minimum of 250 minutes per week of directed class activity for 36 weeks, 40% of which must be lab oriented, for a total of 150 clock hours (90 hours of class plus 60 hours of lab) shall be required for one (1) unit of credit, excluding passing period.

Vocational Courses. Credits shall be in accordance with criteria established by state plans for such courses.

High school credits are based on Carnegie units which define the course credit in terms of the number of minutes of instruction which must be provided to offer a unit of credit. Nothing in this directive is intended to provide basis for denying credit to a student who is not present in class for the number of minutes specified. (See Procedural Directive on Attendance and the APS Student Behavior Handbook).

Testing

No credit will be offered solely on the basis of any test, and no graduation requirements may be met by passing a test.

Non-School Day Credit

Credits earned outside the normal school day shall be recorded as any other credit if prior approval has been given by the home school.

Maximum Credit

Students may enroll for a maximum of seven (7) credits per school year unless prior approval is obtained from the principal to exceed this number. Enrollment for additional classes shall be on a space-available basis.

Cross Ref.:

Board Policy I.11
Request for Credit in Excess of 7 Credits form
APS Student Behavior Handbook

NSBA/NEPN Classification: IKF

Revised: May 1995
Revised: April 1996
Revised: May 1997

This page was last updated on: December 9, 2009.