Distinguished Achievement Program
Required Components
In order to graduate under the Distinguished Achievement Program, a student must complete additional components. There are two parts to these additoinal components: required credits and advanced measures.
Part I: Required Credits
Complete the requirements for the Recommended Program with the following change:
- Three years of a language other than English are required; reducing the elective requirements to 2.5 credits.
Part II: Advanced Measures
A student also must achieve any combination of four of the following advanced measures. Original research/projects may not be used for more than two of the four advanced measures. The measures must focus on demonstrated at the college or professional level. Student performance on advanced measures must be assessed through an external review process. The student may choose from the following options:
- a score of 3 or above on the College Board Advanced Placement examination
- a score of four or above on an International Baccalaureate examination
- a score on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) that qualifies the student for recognition as a commended student or higher by the College Board and National Merit Scholarship Corporation, as part of the National Hispanic Recognition Program (NHRP) of the College Board or as part of the National Achievement Scholarship Program of the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. The PSAT/NMSQT score shall count as only one advanced measure regardless of the number of honors received by the student
- college academic courses, including those taken for dual credit, and advanced technical credit courses, including locally articulated courses, with a grade of 3.0 or higher
- original research/project that is judged by a panel of professionals in the field that is the focus of the project; or conducted under the direction of mentor(s) and reported to an appropriate audience; and related to the required curriculum set forth in §74.1 of this title (relating to Essential Knowledge and Skills)
Examples of original research/projects include the International Baccalaureate extended essay and projects produced through Scientific Research and Design and Social Studies Research Methods.
Students must be enrolled in an approved course or under the supervision of a teacher to complete an advanced measure in this category. External evaluations of the project must be maintained in the student’s Distinguished Achievement Program file.
Process
To pursue the Distinguished Achievement Program, students must notify their counselor no later than the beginning of the semester in which they plan to graduate.
Students are responsible for providing their counselor with documentation of completion of the four advanced measures, even if this documentation is received after graduation (in the case of AP or IB scores).
Students must obtain approval prior to pursuing credits for college courses or original research/projects.