Dear 8th Grade Parent,
We are all looking forward to the 2021-2022 school year and hope it will bring a return to all of the “normal” routines and activities that our students, teachers and families have missed so much over these past 12 months. In that spirit, it’s time to register for next year’s courses!
Course registration opens tomorrow, 3/26 at 3PM and closes Friday, 4/16 at 3PM.
Please read this communication carefully to learn about the two important components of course registration:
- How to access the PowerSchool Portal which is where your 8th grader will select their courses for 9th grade
- Guidance to help with their course selection
PowerSchool Portal
Like last year, your 8th grade student will use the PowerSchool Portal to select their classes. Later today, we will send an important email with your 8th grade student’s credentials to access the PowerSchool Portal. (If you do not see this email in your inbox by Friday morning, please check your junk or spam email boxes).
Keep these credentials in a safe place and treat them confidentially. Beginning tomorrow at 3PM, you can access the portal by going to lnc.powerschool.com and entering your 8th grade student’s confidential ID (user name) and password. If you have an existing LNC PowerSchool parent account for which you know your credentials, you can also access the PowerSchool Portal that way.
Either way, you will choose “Class Registration” on the left menu bar and proceed to select courses. For 9th grade, students select both their core (English, math, science, social studies) and elective courses. All courses are yearlong and there are seven class periods per day. Prerequisites are required for some courses and a minimum grade of an 80% (cumulative through 3rd quarter) is necessary in any subject that the student wants to take an honors-level 9th grade course. All courses that the student is eligible to take will automatically be available to them in the PowerSchool Portal. For example, if the student has earned an 80% or higher in English, both standard English I and honors English I will be available to select. If the student has not earned a cumulative grade of at least an 80%, only standard English I would be available to select.
To assist with this, you will receive an email later today with your student’s 3rd quarter report card. (If you do not see this email in your inbox by Friday morning, please check your junk or spam email boxes). You may wish to refer to it if you are considering selecting any honors-level courses.
Please note that the 80% required grade represents a significant decrease in LNC’s typical minimum requirement to select honors-level courses. This change was made out of an understanding that this unusual year may have caused students to experience a drop in their typical school performance and their grade may not accurately represent their capability to handle an honors-level course in a normal school year.
The course registration process is straightforward and simple, however this video will step you through the process if you need it. Please disregard any reference in the video to teacher recommendation requirements or creating a parent account in PowerSchool. Once your student has made their final selections, they should take a screen shot and keep it for their records.
Course Selection Guidance
Recently 8th grade counselor Ms. Bish and our three high school counselors spoke to your student about course selection for 9th grade and our high school student council leaders hosted a Zoom to explain what student life is like at the high school. We hope that both of these sessions left your student more comfortable about their high school transition and more knowledgeable about selecting their 9th grade courses. You can find a recording of the Zoom session in a post on 3/18 from Ms. Bish in the Class of 25 Schoology group. As for course selection, the information below will help you support your student as they select their freshman classes. For additional information, please consult the high school curriculum guide and this video that describes, by subject, the course offerings at the high school.
Many courses are offered in both standard and honors, but only students who have an 80% or higher cumulative grade in the subject will be able to select the honors-level course. Even if eligible, students and parents should carefully consider selecting honors-level courses as they cover the curriculum more deeply and rapidly than their standard level counterparts and generally require more coursework, homework and overall involvement from the student. Therefore, the student should genuinely like and perform well in any subject they are considering an honors-level course. While the minimum requirement is an 80%, students are best prepared for honors-level work if they have earned grades higher in the subject area in the past.
Students and parents should also consider the student’s overall schedule, including extracurricular activities, hobbies, service time (each high school student is required to perform at least 10 hours of service each year), etc. when deciding on courses. Students’ 8th grade teachers are a great resource to lean into for help and advice. Keep in mind that students are not allowed to “drop” an honors course that becomes too challenging once the school year begins.
Here is the course framework for freshmen:
- English I – Students select either standard or honors English with eligibility to select honors level based on their 8th grade English grade through the 3rd quarter (must be 80% or higher)
- Math I, Math II standard or honors, Math III standard or honors – Students select a mathematics course based on their 8th grade math course and standard versus honors (Math II and III only) based on their 8th grade math grade through the 3rd quarter (must be 80% or higher)
- World History – Students select either standard or honors history with eligibility to select honors level based on their 8th grade social studies grade through the 3rd quarter (must be 80% or higher)
- Earth and Environmental Science – Students select either standard or honors science with eligibility to select honors level based on their 8th grade science grade through the 3rd quarter (must be 80% or higher)
- PE & Health – North Carolina requires that all 9th grade students take physical education and health; this is a standard course with no honors option
- Spanish I, Spanish II French I, French II – Students must take a minimum of 2 years of foreign language and many begin this two year foreign language requirement in their 9th grade year; however it is acceptable to wait until sophomore year. If your student took and passed French I or Spanish I in 8th grade, they have one of the two year requirement satisfied and they can choose to advance to Spanish II or French II or elect to repeat the class based on teacher guidance and parent/student preference
- Fine or Performing Art (Art, Chorus, Drama, Band) – Students must have at least 1 year of art credit and it is encouraged, but not required, that this is done in 9th grade
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Additional Electives if the above does not equal seven courses
Finally, this is usually when we ask you to confirm your emergency contact information. We have decided to postpone that exercise until late summer. That said, if any of your contact information has changed, please use our Student Information Update form to tell us. It is especially important that we always have accurate email addresses, mobile phone numbers and mailing addresses on file for your student’s parents or guardians. If your student will not be returning to LNC next school year, please email MS Registrar Jennifer Wolfe at jwolfe@lncharter.org to let her know.
Thank you for your attention to this matter!
