Habersham Central High School
Academic Letter Criteria
The Academic Letter Program is designed to recognize students who perform at high levels in their academic studies. Students must carry a full course load (4 credits/semester) and at least 50% of the student’s schedule must include core on-grade level academic courses as described below to be eligible for a HCHS Academic Letter. A core academic class that is not on-grade level or is being repeated due to a failure will not count as one of the required core academic classes. The semester average, calculated by the Carnegie unit weight of the class, must be 95 or above. Four points will be added to the course grade for Honors classes for the purposes of this calculation. Advanced Placement and Dual Enrollment classes are weighted in accordance with school system policy; therefore, no additional weighting will be applied.
Recognition (semesters need not be consecutive):
*Semester 3: Raider Scholar T-Shirt and Certificate
*Semester 4: Academic Letter jacket (or frame or patch) and Certificate
*Semesters 5,6,7,8: Service Bars and Certificate
Awards are presented at the Academic Letter Reception
Core Academic Courses (on-grade level):
9th grade:
9th Eng Lit/Comp or higher
Algebra I or higher
Physical Science
World History
10th grade:
10th Eng Lit/Comp or higher
Geometry or higher
Biology
Government
11th grade:
American Lit/Comp or higher
Algebra II or higher
Any SCI course (# 26. or # 40.) if Biology course successfully completed
US History
12th grade:
Any ENG course (# 23.) if an American Lit/Comp or comparable AP or DE course
successfully completed
Any MATH course (# 27.) if an Algebra II course successfully completed
Any SCI course (# 26. or # 40.) if Biology course successfully completed
Economics and other SS (# 45.) courses if US History course successfully completed
*Foreign language courses at any grade level
*Advanced Placement (AP) course or Dual Enrollment (DE) courses recognized by the Georgia Finance Commission for the HOPE grade point average calculation
*CTAE courses that are the third or higher course in a sequence will count as a core academic (ie: third BUS, TECH, AUTO, ECE, JROTC, etc. course)
*A violation of academic integrity disqualifies a student for one or more semesters as determined by a Faculty Advisory Committee.
Academic Letter Options:
The Academic Booster Club subsidizes the cost of Academic Letter awards. Additional financial assistance is available to qualifying students.
Option A: Academic Letter (and bars if applicable) on a Letter Jacket
Students who choose this option are asked to pay a base fee communicated at the time of notification. Bars will be earned for each subsequent semester that the academic criteria are met.
Option B: Academic Letter (and bars if applicable) mounted in a shadow box frame. Students who choose this option are asked to pay a framing fee communicated at the time of notification.
Option C: Academic Emblem for Letter and Patch for sleeve. Bars for subsequent semesters will be awarded. (This option is only available to students who have earned a jacket in athletics, band, chorus, drama, JROTC, or cheerleading. There is no cost for this option.)
Academic Letter Criteria
The Academic Letter Program is designed to recognize students who perform at high levels in their academic studies. Students must carry a full course load (4 credits/semester) and at least 50% of the student’s schedule must include core on-grade level academic courses as described below to be eligible for a HCHS Academic Letter. A core academic class that is not on-grade level or is being repeated due to a failure will not count as one of the required core academic classes. The semester average, calculated by the Carnegie unit weight of the class, must be 95 or above. Four points will be added to the course grade for Honors classes for the purposes of this calculation. Advanced Placement and Dual Enrollment classes are weighted in accordance with school system policy; therefore, no additional weighting will be applied.
Recognition (semesters need not be consecutive):
*Semester 3: Raider Scholar T-Shirt and Certificate
*Semester 4: Academic Letter jacket (or frame or patch) and Certificate
*Semesters 5,6,7,8: Service Bars and Certificate
Awards are presented at the Academic Letter Reception
Core Academic Courses (on-grade level):
9th grade:
9th Eng Lit/Comp or higher
Algebra I or higher
Physical Science
World History
10th grade:
10th Eng Lit/Comp or higher
Geometry or higher
Biology
Government
11th grade:
American Lit/Comp or higher
Algebra II or higher
Any SCI course (# 26. or # 40.) if Biology course successfully completed
US History
12th grade:
Any ENG course (# 23.) if an American Lit/Comp or comparable AP or DE course
successfully completed
Any MATH course (# 27.) if an Algebra II course successfully completed
Any SCI course (# 26. or # 40.) if Biology course successfully completed
Economics and other SS (# 45.) courses if US History course successfully completed
*Foreign language courses at any grade level
*Advanced Placement (AP) course or Dual Enrollment (DE) courses recognized by the Georgia Finance Commission for the HOPE grade point average calculation
*CTAE courses that are the third or higher course in a sequence will count as a core academic (ie: third BUS, TECH, AUTO, ECE, JROTC, etc. course)
*A violation of academic integrity disqualifies a student for one or more semesters as determined by a Faculty Advisory Committee.
Academic Letter Options:
The Academic Booster Club subsidizes the cost of Academic Letter awards. Additional financial assistance is available to qualifying students.
Option A: Academic Letter (and bars if applicable) on a Letter Jacket
Students who choose this option are asked to pay a base fee communicated at the time of notification. Bars will be earned for each subsequent semester that the academic criteria are met.
Option B: Academic Letter (and bars if applicable) mounted in a shadow box frame. Students who choose this option are asked to pay a framing fee communicated at the time of notification.
Option C: Academic Emblem for Letter and Patch for sleeve. Bars for subsequent semesters will be awarded. (This option is only available to students who have earned a jacket in athletics, band, chorus, drama, JROTC, or cheerleading. There is no cost for this option.)