S.C. Code Regs. § § 43-234
Each school district board of trustees must ensure quality schooling by providing a rigorous, relevant curriculum for all students.
Each school district must offer a standards-based academic curriculum organized around a career cluster system that provides students with individualized education pathways and endorsements.
Unit Requirements | |
English language arts | 4.0 |
mathematics | 4.0 |
science | 3.0 |
U.S. History and Constitution | 1.0 |
economics | 0.5 |
U.S. Government | 0.5 |
other social studies | 1.0 |
physical education or Junior ROTC | 1.0 |
computer science | 1.0 |
foreign language or career and technology education | 1.0 |
financial literacy | 0.5 |
electives | 6.5 |
---------- | |
24.0 total |
A transfer student is one who enrolls in a South Carolina public school after having been enrolled in another school in this state or in a school in another state. Credits that he or she earned at the former school may be accepted and applied toward the South Carolina high school diploma. (For specific regulations see Reg. 43-273, Transfers and Withdrawals.)
School districts must organize high school curricula around a minimum of three clusters of study and cluster majors. Such curricula must be designed to provide a well-rounded education that fosters artistic creativity, critical thinking, and self-discipline through the teaching of academic content and skills that students will use in postsecondary study and in the workplace. Students must declare an area of academic focus, also known as a career major, within a cluster of study before the end of the second semester of their tenth-grade year.
Each year, schools must offer a range of required college- and career-ready courses in the core subject areas as listed in the SCDE's Activity Coding System to meet the needs of all students in a four-year graduation cohort.
For students whose academic needs are greater than those courses offered by their school, Virtual SC courses, if available, must be offered by the district to the students in order to graduate with the four-year graduation cohort.
School districts must use the sixteen clusters for reporting purposes but may modify these clusters (for example, Arts and Humanities in place of Arts, Audio-Video Technology, and Communications). The sixteen state clusters are the same as the sixteen federal clusters:
Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources
Architecture and Construction
Arts, Audio-Video Technology, and Communications
Business, Management, and Administration
Education and Training
Finance
Government and Public Administration
Health Science
Hospitality and Tourism
Human Services/Family and Consumer Sciences
Information Technology
Law, Public Safety, Corrections, and Security
Manufacturing
Marketing, Sales, and Service
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics
Transportation, Distribution, and Logistics
At least one time during the entire four years of grades nine through twelve, each student shall receive instruction in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) which must include, but not be limited to, hands-only CPR and must include awareness in the use of an automated external defibrillator (AED) except that virtual schools may administer the instruction virtually and are exempt from any in-person instructional requirements.
All schools encompassing any combination of grades nine through twelve are required to provide a comprehensive school counseling program that is based on grade-specific standards. The standards must address the academic, personal and social, and the career domains. Specifically, students must be provided school counseling and career awareness programs and activities that assist them in developing and fulfilling their individual graduation plans and prepare them for a seamless transition to relevant employment, further training, or postsecondary study.
Library media programs and technology resources must be available and accessible to all students and staff and must be appropriate for the accomplishment of the strategies and goals in each school renewal or district strategic plan.
Each district must survey all its high school graduates who are identified as career and technology education completers to determine their placement status with regard to employment, postsecondary education, and military service. A career and technology education completer is a student with an assigned Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) code who has earned at least three units of credit in CATE courses leading to a career goal.
The district must conduct the survey ten months after graduation each year and must submit the results annually to the SCDE for the purpose of federal and state accountability requirements.
The Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office, working with the Office of First Steps to School Readiness, the SCDE, the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education, the Department of Social Services, the South Carolina Technical College System, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Employment and Workforce, and other state agencies or institutions of higher education, shall develop, implement, and maintain a universal identification system that includes, at a minimum, the following information for measuring the continuous improvement of the state public education system and the college and career readiness and success of its graduates:
All school days missed because of snow, extreme weather conditions, or other disruptions requiring schools to close must be made up. All school districts shall designate annually at least three days within their school calendars to be used as make-up days in the event of these occurrences. If those designated days have been used or are no longer available, the local school board of trustees may lengthen the hours of school operation by no less than one hour per day for the total number of hours missed, operate schools on Saturday, or may waive up to three days. A waiver granted by the local board of trustees may only be authorized by a majority vote of the local school board, and, after the completion of the 2014-15 school year, may not be granted for a school in the district until the school has made up three full days, or the equivalent number of hours, missed due to snow, extreme weather, or other disruptions requiring the school to close during the same school year in which the waiver is sought. When a district waives a make-up day pursuant to this section, the make-up day also is waived for all charter schools located in the district and for all students participating in a home schooling program approved by the board of trustees of the district in which the student resides. Schools operating on a four-by-four block schedule shall make every effort to make up the time during the semester in which the days are missed. A plan to make up days by lengthening the school day must be approved by the SCDE, Office of Federal and State Accountability before implementation. Tutorial instruction for grades 7 through 12 may be taught on Saturday at the direction of the local school board. If a local school board authorizes make-up days on Saturdays, tutorial instruction normally offered on Saturday for seventh through twelfth graders must be scheduled at an alternative time.
The SBE may waive the requirements of making up days beyond the three days forgiven by the local school district, not to exceed three additional days missed because of snow, extreme weather conditions, or other disruptions requiring schools to close. Such a waiver only may be considered and granted upon the request of the local board of trustees through a majority vote of that local school board. The SCDE annually before July 1 shall provide the General Assembly with a detailed report of information from each district listing the number of days missed and the reason, regardless of whether any were missed; days made up; and days waived.
S.C. Code Regs. § 43-234
Statutory Authority: S.C. Code Ann. Sections 59-5-60 (2004), 59-5-65 (2004), 59-29-10 et seq. (2004)(Supp. 2005), 59-39-10 et seq. (2004)(Supp. 2005), 59-53-1810 (2004), 59-59-10 et seq. (Supp. 2005), and No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, 20 U.S.C. Section 6301 et seq. (2002)