GRADES 9 – 12

PROGRAM OF STUDIES

All Pinewood graduates earn an American High School Diploma accredited by Middle States Association for all of the program options chosen below. Four Program of Study Options The school offers high school programs of studies designed to prepare students for university matriculation. We offer four rigorous options for our students to pursue:

• International Baccalaureate (IB) PR Diploma Program
• American High School Honors Diploma
• American High School Diploma
• Greek Diploma Equivalency

The International Baccalaureate (IB) is a 2-year program of study and the diploma is awarded by the IBO following successful completion of the requirements set by the IBO. The American High School Honors Diploma is a combination of IB courses and American High School Diploma courses. A minimum of 2 IB courses must be followed for 2 years with passing marks on the external IB exams administered in May of the senior year. The American High School Diploma is based on the American model and is awarded after successfully meeting all graduation criteria (see below). The Greek Diploma Equivalency is intended for students who want to receive an equivalency to the Greek Apolytirion. This requires Greek Language & Literature and Greek History courses each year of high school following the Greek Ministry of Education curriculum. Part of the program may take place during after school hours. Upon successful completion of the program, students receive a certificate of attendance and grade transcript which they submit along with their American High School Diploma or IB Diploma to the relevant office of the Greek Ministry of Education which issues the equivalency to the Greek Apolytirion. Regardless of the option chosen, all students who successfully complete the Pinewood graduation requirements (see below) are awarded the American High School Diploma.   Graduation Requirements for All Options Requirements for graduation are consistent with the goals of the school, the requirements for admission to higher education institutions, and based on the Carnegie Unit system. Pinewood grants its diploma only to students who have successfully completed all graduation requirements.  Students are required to attend 8 semesters in high school as well as complete a minimum of 22 credits in order to obtain a diploma from Pinewood. The strong majority of Pinewood students graduate with more than the minimum credit requirement.  Transfer students will have their official transcripts reviewed for credit approvals. A minimum of 10 credits for students transferring to Pinewood in Grade 11 and 5 credits for students transferring to Pinewood in Grade 12 must be earned from Pinewood.

	Minimum Requirements	Recommended for University
English	4 credits	4 credits
Social Studies	4 credits	4 credits
Mathematics	3 credits	4 credits	For Math and/or Science studies
Science	3 credits	4 credits	For Math and/or Science Studies
World Language	2 credits	4 credits	For Humanities studies
Electives	5 credits	6 credits	For a well-rounded high school program

Grade Level Promotion Students must obtain at least 4 credits by the end of grade 9 to advance into grade 10. Students must obtain at least 9 credits by the end of grade 10 to advance into grade 11. Students must obtain at least 15 credits by the end of grade 11 to advance into grade 12. Criteria for Passing/Failing a High School Course Final grades are determined through a combination of the scores earned in both summative assessments and cumulative exams. Students will have passed a course and receive credit for the class if they earn any final grade other than an F (59 and below). For IB courses, a minimum grade of 3 is required for receiving credit for HL courses and a minimum grade of 4 is required for receiving credit for SL courses. ToK requires a minimum grade of D for receiving credit. Only final grades, not progress report marks or semester scores, are used to calculate a student’s GPA for the year on the transcript. Commencement The Commencement Ceremony, which is an important feature in American schools, is held for the graduating seniors (Grade 12) at the end of each academic year. On this occasion, two top-ranking seniors deliver Salutatorian and Valedictorian addresses on behalf of their classmates, and a guest speaker is invited to address the graduating class. The event is the highlight of a secondary student’s career at Pinewood and the entire Pinewood community is invited to attend. If a student has not completed all graduation requirements at the time of the graduation ceremony, the student may participate in the graduation ceremony if an acceptable, timely plan for obtaining the needed credits has been approved beforehand. Under no circumstances will a student be able to receive a Pinewood diploma if graduation requirements have not been fully met. Online Credit Recovery & Enrichment Option Credit recovery is an option available to high school students who did not earn a final, passing grade in one or more courses. The intent of the program is to provide these students with an opportunity for additional time to earn credits towards graduation. The online program used by Pinewood is University of Nebraska Online High School. All costs associated with this option are the responsibility of the student. Students who need to enroll in an online course will be notified as soon as possible; however, it is often the case that the need is not clear until after final exams have been completed. Students must successfully complete all course requirements in order to earn the needed credit. Please note that it is a requirement of our school that all of the exams for the online course be taken under the supervision of one of our staff members. The credit recovery course must be successfully completed at least 2 weeks before the first day of school in order to count towards advancement to the next grade level. Upon receipt of the official transcript from University of Nebraska Online High School indicating a passing mark, the student’s transcript will be adjusted accordingly to indicate that credit recovery was utilized for that class. Summer School Option In order to use this option, the student must have written pre-approval by the Secondary Principal and/or IB Coordinator. Only courses offered by schools fully accredited from a recognized accrediting agency in the United States will be allowed. All costs associated with this option are the responsibility of the student. Students must earn passing marks in the summer school course to receive the necessary credit. Upon receipt of the official transcript from the summer school indicating a passing mark, the student’s transcript will be adjusted accordingly to indicate that credit recovery was utilized for that class. Summer school courses must be successfully completed at least 2 weeks before the first day of school in order to count towards advancement to the next grade level. Academic Probation Academic Probation is a temporary status incurred by a student based on his or her most recent progress report and/or report card. A student will be placed on academic probation if he or she is not in good academic standing at the end of the quarter or year. Reasons may include the following:

• The student is currently failing 1 or more classes.
• The student is at risk of not meeting promotion/graduation criteria.

Parents and students will be informed in an official email from the Secondary Principal or IB DP Coordinator. A meeting will take place between the student and the Secondary Principal or IB DP Coordinator in order to provide guidance to the student for ways of increasing his/her success in school. This may include suggestions for additional support, supervised study for dormitory students, changes in courses, and/or reorganization of athletic, social, or other extracurricular schedules. If at the end of the next quarter a student has returned to good academic standing, he or she will be removed from Academic Probation. A list of students on academic probation is compiled after each term and shared with teachers in order to more closely follow each student’s progress and provide extra support. Read more about our I.B. Diploma program

HOW WE ASSESS OUR STUDENTS

Aswell as school grades, the HAL (Habits & Attitudes to Learning) rubric identifies many of the dispositions and approaches to learning that students need to develop if they are to cultivate a growth mindset and become independent lifelong learners. It is used by teachers for assigning a habits and attitudes to learning grade (from 1-7). Students can also use the rubric to self-assess or set personal growth goals. Read more about the HAL Rubric PROGRAM OF STUDIES – SECONDARY Pinewood American International School is a Candidate School* for the MYP Program. This school is pursuing authorization as an IB World School. These are schools that share a common philosophy—a commitment to high-quality, challenging, international education that Pinewood believes is important for our students. *Only schools authorized by the IB Organization can offer any of its four academic programmes: the Primary Years Programme (PYP), the Middle Years Programme (MYP), the Diploma Programme, or the Career-related Programme (CP).  Candidate status gives no guarantee that authorization will be granted. For further information about the IB and its programmes, visit http://www.ibo.org HiGH SCHOOL PROFILE HERE FOR NEW STUDENTS: All students applying to Grades 6 – 12,  will need to sit an online English Placement test. Once your application has been reviewed we will issue these tests to candidates to take in their own time.  The test is a 30 minutes multiple choice test . You will receive the log in details for the test once the candidate has been accepted, and the prepayment confirms the enrolment, as detailed on your billing statement, sent to you after online application, is complete. Also appropriate test will be sent to IB students.