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POLICY STATEMENT

In order to meet graduation requirements and be awarded a British Columbia Certificate of Graduation (Dogwood) students must earn a minimum of 80 credits to graduate. These must include 48 credits for required courses, a minimum of 28 elective credits, and 4 credits for Graduation Transitions.

RATIONALE

The graduation requirements were changed in 2003 for students entering Grade 10 beginning in the school year 2004/2005.

LEGISLATION/ REGULATIONS

See Ministerial Order 302/04, the Graduation Program Order

ADDITIONAL DEFINITIONS

Required Courses: Credits that must be earned in the following subject areas:

• a Language Arts 10 (4 credits)
• a Language Arts 11 (4 credits)
• a Language Arts 12 (4 credits)
• a Social Studies 10 (4 credits)
• a Social Studies 11 or 12 (4 credits)
• a Mathematics 10 (4 credits)
• a Mathematics 11 or 12 (4 credits)
• a Science 10 (4 credits)
• a Science 11 or 12 (4 credits)
• Physical Education 10 (4 credits)
• Fine Arts and/or an Applied Skills 10, 11, or 12 (4 credits)
• Planning 10 (4 credits)

Board/Authority Authorized (BAA) Courses

POLICY

Students must earn a minimum of 80 credits in order to graduate. Schools are responsible for recording all course credits and for reporting that information to the Ministry for transcript production at the end of Grades 10, 11, and 12.

Students must complete 48 credits of appropriate required courses. A list of all courses that may be used to satisfy this requirement is found in the online Course Registry.

Students must complete 4 credits for Graduation Transitions. The standards for evaluating students and guidelines for reporting are contained in the Graduation Transitions program guide.

Students must complete a minimum of 28 elective credits. These 28 credits must be from Ministry-authorized or BAA or post-secondary courses or external credentials, but not Locally Developed courses.

Students must complete a minimum of 16 credits at the Grade 12 level, 12 credits in addition to a required Language Arts 12 course. These twelve Grade 12 credits may be for required courses, electives, Independent Directed Study, or External Credentials or dual credit for post-secondary institutions (see the Earning Credit through Equivalency, Challenge, External Credentials, Post-Secondary Credit and Independent Directed Studies policy for additional information).

Information about options for satisfying the requirements for Fine Arts and/or Applied Skills (4 credits) is found in the Fine Arts and Applied Skills Requirements in the Graduation Program Policy and in the appropriate Handbook of Procedures for the 2004 Graduation Program.

Once the credits for required courses have been met, additional courses in that subject area count as elective credits.

PROCEDURES

Schools should ensure that students understand the requirements for graduation, and provide them with guidance in planning and course selection. Schools shall report credits earned by students to the Ministry for entry on student transcripts at the end of Grades 10, 11, and 12, and for calculation of graduation eligibility.