1. INTRODUCTION

A new senior high school program, with revised graduation requirements, has been developed for the province of Newfoundland. The new program will have major curricular changes in the subject areas of English Language Arts and Mathematics and the addition of new courses in some of the other subject areas. These changes will reflect the Essential Graduation Learnings which have been established by the Atlantic Provinces Education Foundation (APEF) as the basis for the K-12 program throughout the region.

The existing High School Certification System, which has been in operation for the past ten years, must therefore be adapted to accommodate both the program changes and the revisions to the graduation requirements. It should be noted, however, that although the revised graduation requirements will be implemented for students entering the high school program in 1998, the revised courses in the subject areas of English Language Arts, Mathematics, and Science will not be ready for full implementation until September 2000. Therefore the revisions to the system will have to take this delay into consideration and it will mean that the first cohort of students to proceed through the program in the 1998-99 and 1999-2000 school years will essentially use existing courses to graduate under the new regulations.



2. PROGRAM STRUCTURE

The Senior High School Program comprises the final three years of study of a thirteen-year, Kindergarten-to-Senior High Graduation education system. These final three years are referred to as Levels I, II, and III. The program is structured on a course credit basis entailing the accumulation of credits over three years or more, culminating in the acquisition of a Senior High Graduation Diploma.



2.1 Definition of a Credit

Credit is determined and awarded on the basis of attainment of a passing grade in the senior high school courses as follows:





2.2 Course Numbering

Senior high school courses are organized by general subject categories identified by a 2-digit number from 01 - 99. Within each subject category, each course is denoted by a four-digit number constructed as follows:

1st digit:
1,2,3 or 4 denoting "course level", where 1,2,3 designate secondary level courses and 4 designates advanced courses normally recognized for postsecondary credit or advanced placement

2nd digit:
the "credit value" i.e. the number of credits awarded for successful completion of the course

3rd digit:
a digit from 0-9 denoting the "type" of course, the following types are presently designated:


0 = prescribed courses for students throughout the Province

1 = pilot courses approved on a trial basis for evaluation as potential prescribed course

2 = local courses approved in particular schools

3 = prescribed courses for students in French First Language or French Immersion

4 = pilot courses approved on a trial basis in French First Language or French Immersion

5 = local courses approved in French First language or French Immersion

6 = prescribed courses modified by reducing depth of treatment and/or deleting certain curriculum outcomes

7 = alternate courses studied by individual students including Advanced Placement (AP) courses studied independently

8 = prescribed courses modified by extending depth of treatment and/or adding curriculum outcomes

9 = transferred studies in a subject area for which no specific course equivalent exists in the Senior High School Program



4th digit:
a digit between 0 and 9 distinguishing courses in a subject area having the same level, credit value and type





2.3 Courses for 1998-99

Appendix 1 provides a list of all provincial courses, including pilot courses, authorized for 1998-99. With the exception of Advanced Placement courses and courses in Cooperative Education and Native Languages, local courses are not included in this list since approval is required each year for such courses. The following changes in course categories or course numbers should be noted for 1999-2000:



These new numbers must be used in the COURSE Registration Process in February 1999.



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