Academics

Department Requirements

The Newton School Committee sets graduation requirements for the Newton Public Schools. Students must earn a minimum of 243 credits in order to graduate and meet the requirements listed below. In addition to the subjects listed below, students, especially those planning to continue their formal education after high school, are strongly advised to study world languages.

• English (48 credits)
• Science (24 credits, 12 in Biological Science, 12 in Life Science)
• History and Social Science (36 credits, including 12 credits in United States History)
• Mathematics (24 credits)
• Fine, Performing & Technical Arts (12 credits)
  • Art, Business, Family & Consumer Science, Media Arts, Music, Drama, Speech, Computer Programming, Journalism, and Technical Education
• Wellness (15 credits)
  • 6 credits during 9th grade and 3 credits during each consecutive grade totaling 15 credits required for graduation
• The remaining 84 credits can be earned through electives or other course offerings.

Credits

Credits are assigned to courses depending on the frequency of meeting and preparation required. For courses that meet three times a week, the following number of credits are awarded upon successful completion:

Full-year (FY)

• 12 credits

Semester (S1 or S2)

• 6 credits

Quarter (Q1, Q2, Q3, or Q4)

• 3 credits

Teaching Assistant, Peer Tutor, Independent Study

• These courses award half the credit based on the length above. For example, a full-year Teaching Assistant earns 6 credits instead of 12.

Students will be required to take a minimum of 72 credits, although juniors and seniors who are committed to extra curricular activities are allowed to enroll in a minimum of 66 credits with Dean approval.  These activities must be supervised by faculty/staff, be connected to the curriculum, and have a final product or concluding performance. Examples of such activities include interscholastic school sports, school publications, theater (directing, acting or tech crew), science/math teams, Model UN, Mock Trial, speech team, school supervised community service, school supervised tutoring, and summer school. Students should see their guidance counselor for more information about taking 66 credits along with extra curricular activities.

MCAS Graduation Requirement

While no longer a graduation requirement, students must take the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) tests in three subjects by the end of Grade 10:

• Science (Biology or Physics, first offered June of Grade 9)
• English Language Arts (taken March of Grade 10)
• Mathematics (taken May of Grade 10)

Our school is committed to building course structures that support the mental health of our students and that promote equity in our educational offerings as an actively anti-racist school. 

Multi-Level Courses

A multi-level course is a single classroom with the same teacher(s) in which students are enrolled in more than one level of the course (College Prep, Advanced College Prep, Honors).

While there are some classes that have run as multi-level courses for many years and are well known to students, Newton South may make the decision to run other multi-level courses after registration occurs in order to meet our student requests and address equity concerns.

We believe in the power of multi-level courses because they:

• Provide a rich experience for students within a diverse learning community.
• Increase access and equity for all students by dismantling structures where implicit bias results in inadvertently sorting students by race, gender, and/or socioeconomic status based on the subject area and level.
• Provide students with access to support and opportunity for challenge in the same learning community.
• Allow Newton South to offer classes that may not have enough enrollment to run as single-level classes.

Students should sign up for courses and levels that meet their need for support and challenge. If a student has specific concerns about multi-level courses, they may speak to the department chair.

Course Levels

College Preparatory (CP)

In College Preparatory classes, students learn core grade-level content and skills of the course that they will need for future study in the discipline. Lessons are presented at a flexible pace. Students investigate, analyze, synthesize, evaluate, and solve problems with targeted support.

Advanced College Preparatory (ACP)

In Advanced College Preparatory classes, students learn core grade-level content and skills of the course that they will need for future study in the discipline.  Additional content may be presented. Students investigate, analyze, synthesize, evaluate, and solve problems.

In the Mathematics department, there is one additional level called, “Accelerated,” that is between the ACP and Honors level.

Honors (H)

In Honors or AP classes, students learn core grade-level content and skills that they will need for future study in the discipline. Lessons are taught at a rigorous pace. Additional content will be presented. Students investigate, analyze, synthesize, evaluate and apply content and skills learned in class to novel situations.

No Level (N)

Courses designated as “No Level” will receive standard letter grades. Other than those taken in the ninth grade, grades in “No Level” classes will be included in a student’s GPA.

Pass-Fail (P-F)

Classes designated as “Pass-Fail” will receive a grade of a P, F, or, in some cases, A. PassFail courses are not included in a student’s GPA calculation.