The following Upper School courses are required for graduation from St. John's:

Course
Credits
English I, II, III, IV
4
Algebra II, Geometry and Precalculus
3
Foreign Language I, II, III
3
Biology and (Chemistry or Physics)
2
World History I, II; United States History
3
Fine Arts
1

Total 16


A total of 17˝ academic credits are required for graduation, including 1˝ elective credits; two (2) additional credits of Physical Education are also required. The Fine Arts graduation requirement may be met in a variety of ways, as outlined on the page entitled "Fine Arts Requirement."

NOTE:
The Physical Education requirement must be completed by the end of the sophomore year. The science requirement must be completed by the end of the junior year.

Physical Education Graduation Requirement

In order to graduate from St. John’s, a student must earn two Physical Education credits – one in each of his/her first two years in Upper School – by the end of tenth grade. Students may earn Physical Education credit by:

  • Taking Physical Education – one third of one credit per trimester
  • Playing on a St. John’s athletic team – one half of one credit per season
  • Participating in a St. John’s dance ensemble for a full year – one credit (note: a dance ensemble may not be used to earn a Physical Education credit and a Fine Arts credit at the same time)
  • Participating in St. John’s cheerleading – one half of one credit (note: a student who participates in cheerleading in addition to a fall sport receives credit for the sport but not cheerleading)
  • Managing an athletic team – one half of one credit per season (note: a student may not manage more than one team for credit in a given year)


Fine Arts Requirements

The school's one-credit fine arts requirement may be met in a variety of ways, involving either graded, non-auditioned courses or certain co-curricular ensembles. Specific ways in which the fine arts credit may be met are described below:

1. Fine Arts Courses — (graded courses not requiring auditions in visual arts, music, and theatre as listed on the course selection sheet and described in the curriculum guide). These courses are usually one semester in length, and each counts ˝ credit toward the requirement. Yearlong courses count as 1 credit.

2. Fine Arts Co-Curricular — Non-graded performance-based ensembles are open by audition and supplement the general curriculum in dance and music; they meet two, three or four times a week throughout the school year. One full year of these ensembles earns credit toward the fine arts requirement as follows:
  • Choral Music: Les Chanteuses, Kantorei and Chorale -- meet ˝ the graduation requirement.
  • Instrumental Music: Winds, Strings, Handbells, Jazz -- meet ˝ the graduation requirement.
  • DANCE: Terpsichore -- meets the full graduation requirement after the P.E. requirement has been met.
    Dance -- meets ˝ the graduation requirement after the P.E. requirement has been met.
Students must participate in the co-curricular ensembles including scheduled performances for an entire year in order to earn credit toward the graduation requirement. Students dropping any one of these before the end of the year will earn NO credit.

Dance classes taken in grades 9 and 10 and used for PE credit at that time, may not subsequently be applied to Fine Arts credit.

Pass-Fail Courses

Pass/Fail Fact Sheet
  1. Juniors or seniors may designate one year-long course or one semester-long course a semester to be taken on a pass-fail basis provided the courses are not graduation requirements.
  2. Students must indicate their interest by midsemester academic checkpoint but no later than the last class day of the semester.  Forms may be obtained from the Registrar or the Academic Dean.
  3. Students may "reserve" a grade when they sign up to take a course pass/fail.
    1. If, at the end of the course, a student’s grade is equal to or above this grade, the report card and transcript will reflect the grade earned, and this grade will be averaged into the student's GPA. For seniors: grades at or above the reserve grade will be recorded at midyear.
    2. If the grade earned is below the reserved grade, then the student will be given a "P" for passing or an "F" for failing, depending on which grade was actually earned in the course.
  4. Bonus points for AP/Honors/Adv courses will not be awarded until the end of the course.
  5. A failing grade in a course will require that the course be made up before the student can graduate.
  6. Since there may be effects on college application considerations, we require that any student wishing to take a course on a pass/fail basis obtain:
    1. a parent's signature on the form
    2. a college counselor's signature on the form, indicating that the counselor has talked to the parents and has explained the possible college implications of the decision and that the parents are still in favor of the idea.
NOTES:
  • Students may not choose to take one semester of a yearlong course pass/fail and the other not pass/fail.
  • Fine Arts courses may not be designated pass/fail until the fine arts requirement has been met.