Overview

Students who complete waiver requirements do not earn credits required for graduation and the waiver requirements do not factor into a student’s grade point average (GPA).

When a waiver is applied, the subject area required credits is reduced by the credit amount applied from the waiver and the Electives subject area is increased by that amount.

PE Waivers may not be used to satisfy the requirement for adaptive physical education under an individual education plan (IEP) or 504 plan.

Students must confirm that the World Language Waiver will be recognized by the college or university to which they are applying. If it is determined that a World Language Waiver is appropriate, the counselor will add the World Language waiver to the student’s academic history. Documentation indicating how the proficiency was met must be kept in the student’s cumulative folder. The World Language Waiver options do not award students high school credit.

Important Note for District MIS Staff: This process is highly reliant on Grading Scales being configured correctly with "Gives Credit" which is what the system uses to determine that a grade "counts" for inclusion in the Grad Requirement Report. See our MIS Grading Setup & Troubleshooting Checklist article for additional details.

Waivers in Course History

To reflect the waiver on the graduation requirement report in Focus and to include the information in the student's academic history, enter respective waiver information into the Student Final Grades screen with the appropriate course number and the following fields as seen below:

Grade Title = NG (except A, B, or C for 1500440; SB for 0791920)
Credit attempted = 0
Credit Earned = 0
Subject Area = Physical Education (except Foreign Language for 0791920)
Course History = Checked
Affects GPA = Unchecked

Waiver numbers cannot be entered or placed on a student’s transcripts until the student completes the requirement (i.e., completion of a season, semester, or year in its entirety.)

The waivers and how they work are as follows:

1500410 INTERSCH SSN 1 & 1500420 INTERSCH SSN 2

Requires both waivers. The two seasons of an interscholastic sport at the junior varsity or varsity level waives the .5 credit in Personal Fitness and the .5 credit requirement in a physical education activity elective (or the 1 credit of HOPE). This increases the Electives requirement by one credit.

Although the CCD manual recommends adding the waiver at the conclusion of each season separately, we recommend waiting until the student completes both seasons of the interscholastic sport as both are required to earn the waiver.

Once both seasons of the interscholastic sport are completed, add 2 lines in the student's course history for waivers 1500410 and 1500420.

1500440 Marching Band Course Grade PE Waiver (Semester)

One semester of the marching band course 1302355 (or course with marching band activities) with a grade of “C” or better waives the .5 credit requirement of a physical education activity elective (Students must still take Personal Fitness class or HOPE. This waiver is for the .5 credit requirement of a physical education activity elective). If the student has already completed the 1 credit of PE requirement, it will automatically put the waiver on the Performing Arts requirement. This increases the Electives requirement by 0.5 credit.

Once the semester course history grade has been posted with a grade of “C” or better, add a line in the student's course history for waiver 1500440. The grade title on the waiver must match the grade title of the respective course for this particular waiver to confirm the grade of "C" or better requirement has been met.

1500441 Marching Band Y1 & 1500442 Marching Band Y2

Requires both waivers. Two years of participation in Marching Band waives the .5 credit in Personal Fitness and the .5 credit requirement in a physical education activity elective (or the 1 credit of HOPE), or 1.0 credit of the performing/fine arts requirement. If the student has already completed the 1 credit of PE requirement, it will automatically put the waiver on the Performing Arts requirement. This increases the Electives requirement by one credit.

Although the CCD manual recommends adding the waiver at the conclusion of each year separately, we recommend waiting until the student completes both years of marching band as both are required to earn the waiver.

Once both years of Marching Band participation are completed, add 2 lines in the student's course history for waivers 1500441 and 1500442.

1500445 Dance Waiver

One semester of a dance course waives the .5 credit requirement of a physical education activity elective (Students must still take Personal Fitness class or HOPE. This waiver is for the .5 credit requirement of a physical education activity elective). If the student has already completed the 1 credit of PE requirement, it will automatically put the waiver on the Performing Arts requirement. This increases the Electives requirement by 0.5 credit.

Once the semester course history grade has been posted, add a line in the student's course history for waiver 1500445.

1500450 JROTC/PE Y1 Waiver & 1500460 JROTC/PE Y2 Waiver AND/OR 1500480 JROTC/PF Waiver

Two years in Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) courses waives both 1.0 credit in physical education and 1.0 credit in performing/fine arts. This will increase the Electives requirement by up to 2 credits. If a student has completed part of the PE or Performing Arts requirement those credits will be included in the PE or Performing Arts areas and the electives requirements will not be increased by that amount. If the school does not use HOPE the student should still take personal fitness and when that grade is entered the Electives requirement is reduced by 0.5 credits.

Although the CCD manual recommends adding the waiver at the conclusion of each year separately, we recommend waiting until the student completes both years of JROTC as both are required to earn the waiver.

Once the equivalent of two years of course history grades have been posted for JROTC courses, add 2 lines in the student's course history for waivers 1500450 and 1500460 to waive the 1.0 physical education requirement. Add 1 line in the student's course history for waiver 1500480 to waive the 1.0 performing/fine arts requirement. Although FOCUS will recognize either waiver set for waiving both PE and PA requirements on the graduation requirements report, entering all 3 lines is recommended for accurate recordkeeping and reporting.

0791920 World Language Waiver

If a student is a native speaker of a language other than English and can demonstrate proficiency, a student may substitute up to two academic credits for the two required credits in the same foreign language. The transcripts of students who demonstrate proficiency in a language other than English should indicate a World Language Waiver. This will meet the foreign language requirement for Talented 20 and the Biliteracy Seal.

Districts may document proficiency through a variety of methods, including:

Exit tests or assessments used in IB, AP, or AICE programs
Language placement tests used by the modern languages department at the local college or state university
Use of a commercially-developed language proficiency test, such as the College Level Examination Program (CLEP), in languages other than English, the Oral Proficiency Interview designed by the American Council on Education, or the SAT II (formerly Achievement Test) designed by the College Board.

Once the student has confirmed the World Language Waiver is appropriate for their college plan and the school has confirmed that proficiency is appropriately documented to support the awarding of the waiver in the student's cumulative folder, add 1 line in the student's course history for waiver 0791920 to waive up to two required credits in the same foreign language. Do not enter anything for credits earned as this does not reduce the total number of credits needed for graduation.