Grading Scale & Diploma Plans
 

Grading Scale
The school grading system is set up on a quarterly basis. Report cards are issued four times a year after each nine-week grading period. Progress reports are sent home at four and one-half week intervals for all students. Progress reports represent the student’s grade from the beginning of the semester through the date of issue. Progress reports may also be sent at times to notify parents that a student is likely to earn below a C on a report card. The parents can then help their children schedule their time and review material to bring up grades.

The following grading scale is used:

A B C D
90 - 100%   80 - 89%   70 - 79%   60 - 69%


High School students receive one-half credit for each semester course in which they earn a passing grade. The Grade Point Average for High School students will reflect the following distinctions within a letter grade:

Numeric Grade Letter Grade   Grade Point  
98 - 100 A+ 4.4
93 - 97 A   4.2
90 - 92 A-  4.0
88 - 89 B+ 3.4
83 - 87 B   3.2
80 - 82 B-  3.0
78 - 79 C+ 2.4
73 - 77 C   2.2
70 - 72 C-  2.0
68 - 69 D+ 1.4
63 - 67 D   1.2
60 - 62 D-  1.0

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Diploma Plans
Three diploma plans are available: Standard Diploma (24 required credits), College Prep Diploma (25 required credits with a 2.7 GPA), and Honors Diploma (26 required credits with a 3.7 GPA). The following credits are required for each diploma plan:

Department Standard College Prep * Honors **
Bible 4 4 4
Math 4 4 4
English 4 4 4
Science 4 4 4
Social Studies 4 4 4
Physical Education 0.5 0.5 0.5
Health 0.5 0.5 0.5
Foreign Language 0 1 - 2 2
Electives 3 1 - 2 3
Total Credits 24 credits 25 credits 26 credits
Minimum GPA n/a 2.7 GPA 3.7 GPA

* College Preparatory Diploma Specifics: Students must successfully complete at least 2 Honors classes in 10th-12th grades. Students must successfully complete at least 1 year of a foreign language.

** Honors Diploma Specifics: Students must successfully complete any 4 Honors courses in 10th-12th grades and 1 AP course (AP English Language and Composition or AP Calculus) in the 12th Grade. Students must successfully complete 2 years of the same foreign language. Student must have a cummulative GPA of 3.7 at the end of the 1st semester of the 12th grade and a total of 26 credits at the end of the 12th grade.

SMCS reserves the right to modify the graduation requirements as necessary.

Kindergarten through 8th grade students take the Stanford Achievement Test each spring. All Secondary students take the Explore Test (pre ACT) in 9th grade, the PLAN (pre ACT) in 10th grade, and the PSAT (pre SAT) in 11th grade.

On average 95% of our graduates attend college and the class of 2010 (34 seniors) earned over $925,000 in scholarships. Since 1995, 24% of our graduates have been National Merit Scholars. Approximately 93% of our graduates take the ACT with an average composite score of 24.8 while 19% take the SAT with an average combined score of 1150.

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