Graduation Requirements

Grade “C” or above: All “a-g” courses must be completed with a grade of C or above each semester.

Repeated “a-g” courses: Courses in which grades of a D/F are earned may be repeated. The highest grade will be used in the GPA calculation. UC only allows a course to be repeated one time for grade replacement.

7th—8th Grade Coursework: Coursework completed in 7th or 8th grade can be used to satisfy Math or Language “a-g” requirements, however, the credits are NOT counted towards a high school diploma.

Calculating GPA: UC/CSU calculate GPA using only “a-g” approved courses taken after the 9th grade, including summer courses. All “a-g” courses and grades must be reported.

Test Scores—ACT or SAT Reasoning:

California State University (CSU)

1. Test required for CSU applicants to impacted campuses.
2. Test required for CSU applications to non-impacted campuses who have earned an “a-g” GPA of less than 3.0 3. CSU combines best critical reading and math scores from multiple sittings of SAT; may combine best subscores from multiple ACT tests to calculate a best composite.

University of California (UC)

1. The ACT Plus Writing of the SAT Reasoning Test is required for UC applicants.
2. UC uses the highest composite score from a single sitting of the ACT Plus Writing or total score from the SAT Reasoning Test.
3. Some campuses may recommend SAT Subject Tests for specific majors

Course Load Requirements:  

• Grade 7-8 Students must enroll in eight classes
• Grade 9-11 Students must enroll in six classes.
• Grade 12 Students may enroll in five classes if they have a minimum of 180 credits completed.

Students may be eligible to attend classes through the Regional Occupational Program (ROP), college and university campuses. However, the student must be enrolled at his/her home school for a minimum of 240 minutes a day.

10 credits per year may be designated for an outside course (with counselor approval). 

Typically, fall registration begins in March.

Minimum Day Seniors: 

Seniors who have 180 credits at the beginning of the senior year may apply for a five-period minimum day. One of those 5 classes may be community college, university, or Outside ROP.

Physical Education: 

Students in grades 9 and 10 must be enrolled in physical education (P.E.) each semester for a total of four (4) semesters. If they do not receive enough credits to meet the requirements for graduation, the units must be made up before graduation. Students coming from schools where P.E. is not required (e.g., private or out-of-state schools) need to make up the units missed. In addition to the regular P.E. curriculum, other courses may receive P.E. credit, such as all types of athletics, drill team, dance, pep squad, modified physical education, pe electives, and marching band.

Schedule/Drop Classes: 

Students are encouraged to request schedule changes before school ends in the prior year. At other times, schedule changes are made according to CdM's policy and practice. CLASS CHANGES WILL NOT BE MADE FOR THE FOLLOWING REASONS:

• Student does not “like” teacher or prefers another teacher

• Personal schedule (for example “My new job has different hours than before”, “My outside class meets during that time”)

• Preference to take a class during a specific period or with friends

Generally, a student cannot enter a new class after the third week. Exceptions are to be made by the principal/designee.

If a student drops a class after the third week, s/he will receive an F which will be entered on the transcript. Parent permission is required to drop the class.

Outside Classes: 

A maximum of 10 units per school year will be accepted from students who take courses at other institutions while enrolled in a Newport-Mesa school. Prior written approval of the principal/designee is required. 

A student may request to receive high school credit for outside educational courses that are not offered at CdM. A request can be made to record these on their transcript. College credits will be accepted as high school credits towards graduation according to the following table:

1-2 unit college class = 2.5 high school credits

3-5 unit college class = 5 high school credits

6-10 unit college class =10 high school credits

Please see your counselor to find out what college classes can be taken for high school credit, and get a permission form filled out before signing up for a class.

The student/parent is responsible for requesting an official transcript from the outside institution. This transcript should be mailed directly to the school to the attention of the appropriate counselor. Once received, the pre-approval form will be matched with the official transcript and the registrar will post the grade to the students CDM transcript.