As partners with YOU in the mission of cultivating your child through his or her learning experiences at CVCA, we aim to create a balanced and appropriately challenging learning path for your student, while protecting a healthy emotional balance in that young person’s life.
This week, counselors have begun visiting Bible classes to walk students through their course and program options for next year. But recognizing that this process involves a partnership between not just the student and his academic counselor, but with their parents as well, we wanted to review how YOU can participate in shaping your student’s course schedule for next year.
As a first step, feel free to peruse our 2022-2023 CVCA Academic Catalog, which maps out in great detail the learning and professional exploration option available to students at CVCA.
Many parents find it hard to set aside the time to read this whole viewbook, so here’s a short list of explanations parents often ask about high school learning options:
“HONORS” Classes - An “enriched” or “honors” class requires more work and study than a standard course, but it also carries more weight–that is, your grade earned in this course will be weighted slightly more in your GPA than for a regular course.
“AP” and “CL” Classes - Starting in ninth grade, students with an overall GPA of 3.0 or higher can begin earning COLLEGE CREDIT through two academic paths at CVCA. An AP (Advanced Placement) class tends to be the most rigorous kind of class–it covers college-level material that builds up to a standardized test taken in the spring. Students in AP classes must earn (typically) a 3 out of 5–or higher–on the end-of-course test for colleges to award credit for these classes.
Similarly, CL (College Level) classes provide college level material through specially credentialed instructors at CVCA. These courses function like college classes, in that your grades in the course are shared with a college, and if the student has been accepted to the hosting college (in our case, Malone University), college credit will be noted on the student’s high school transcript. Keep in mind that both CL and AP courses are weighted in your child’s GPA, but are demanding in terms of course rigor and work assigned.
“SCHOOLS OF DISTINCTION (SOD)” - Many CVCA sophomores elect to enroll in one of these two-year professional exploration programs, which last through junior and senior years of high school. Though the special courses required to complete a school of distinction may limit students’ chances to take other high school general electives, the hands-on experiences, mentoring, unique curricular content and field trips available through these programs can be tremendously useful to students. In addition to enhancing your college resume, completing a school of distinction can warm up the student’s mind for collegiate studies in a professional field, or perhaps confirm to the student that a career path is not for them (long before investing significant time and money into a disappointing college major).
SOD choices include the School of Engineering, the School of Ministry, the School of Business and Entrepreneurship, the School of Medical Professions, and the School of Arts and Humanities.
You can access the FAMILY PORTAL for the next couple of weeks to look over course selections and coach your student on his or choices for next year. Once your student has made all of his or her selections, their academic counselor will meet individually with them once more to review the student’s choices for next year.
