Graduation Requirements
Future Ready Core
All students will be expected to meet the requirements outlined under the Future-Ready Core Course of Study.
The Future-Ready Core was developed to provide students with a strong academic foundation so that they will have as many options as possible upon graduation.
Updated July 2020
NC High School Diploma Endorsement
Please see the NC High School Diploma Endorsement information. Students are not required to achieve an endorsement for graduation, however endorsements provide opportunities for students to display evidence of their interests and talents.
How to earn NC High School Endorsements- PD
Repeating a Course for Credit
NC State Board of Education policy CCRE-001 (see link for policy)
7.1 The term “repeating a course for credit” will be used to refer to a high school course repeated via any delivery method when the entire Standard Course of Study for that course is being taught to the student for a second time.
7.2 Students are permitted to repeat a course for credit when they have failed a course. Local boards of education may develop policies that define specific circumstances when students other than those who fail a course may repeat a course for credit (see below for RCS procedures).
7.3 Students repeating a course for credit shall receive a grade and take the associated End-of-Course (EOC) assessment. Those students who have already scored at Level 3, 4, or 5 on the associated EOC assessment may elect either to retake the EOC or use the previous passing EOC score as at least 20% of their final grade. If the student retakes the EOC, the higher of the two scores will be used in the calculation of the final grade.
7.4 Beginning in 2015–16, for students who initially fail a high school course and repeat the course for credit, upon completion of the repeated course, the new course grade shall replace the previous grade for the course.
7.5 When a student repeats a course for credit and passes the course, the student only earns credit towards graduation once.
Rockingham County Schools policy 3420 Student Promotion and Accountability (see link for policy)
The NC State Board of Education provides local boards of education the ability to develop policies that define specific circumstances when students other than those who fail a course can repeat a course for credit. Local policy 3420 allows the superintendent or his designee to develop local procedures that allow students to repeat a course for credit to improve their grade. RCS local procedures allow any high school student to repeat a course for credit if the student scored below a 90 (A) on the final course grade. Students interested in repeating a course for credit should contact their school counselor.
Credit Recovery
NC State Board of Education policy CCRE-001 (see link for policy)
6.1 The term “credit recovery” will be used to refer to a block of instruction that is less than the entirety of the Standard Course of Study for that course. Credit recovery delivers a subset of the Standard Course of Study or blueprint of the original course in order to specifically address deficiencies in a student’s mastery of the course and target specific components of a course necessary for completion.
6.2 The length of credit recovery courses shall be dictated by the skills and knowledge the student needs to recover and not be a fixed length of seat time. When credit recovery is exercised, the original record of the course being completed and failed will remain on the transcript.
6.3 The LEA shall allow a grade pass or a fail for each credit recovery course. The mark will not affect the student’s GPA.
6.4 A student wishing to modify his or her GPA shall repeat a course for credit and not seek a credit recovery solution.
6.5 A local school board may not limit the number of credit recovery courses taken by a student prior to graduation.
6.6 The End-of-Course (EOC) exam associated with the credit recovery course may be administered no later than 30 days upon the completion of the credit recovery course.