By Andrea Malo
Austin High School Principal

The first semester of the 2019-2020 school year is just ending, but here at Austin High School we are already busy planning for next year.  As we move into our second semester, our students in grades 9-11 will start planning which courses they will take next year.  This is an exciting time for our students to explore courses that may match up with future career interests or to take a course that will introduce them to content that they know very little about, and we’re very excited to help our students plan for their future opportunities.

Registration and scheduling at Austin High School is nearly a year long process.  In the month of October, we open opportunities up to our teaching staff at Austin High School to propose new courses for the next school year.  For the 2020-2021 school year we will be offering several new courses, including AP Computer Science, AP Spanish, The History of Rock and Roll, Senior Art, The World at War:  A Military and Social History of WWII, and Technology and Innovations.  Another significant change involves our Social Studies curriculum.  After reviewing academic standards, the department has worked to reorganize the courses that will be offered at each grade level.  Students in 9th grade will take World History, 10th grade students will take Human Geography, 11th grade United States History, and 12th grade Government and Economics. 

During the month of December, our students have an opportunity to review course recommendations with their core content teachers in Math, Science, Language Arts, and Social Studies.  Students and teachers have conversations around which pathway may be most appropriate as they continue their academic journey at Austin High School.  During the months of January and February, students have an opportunity to look at and review elective course choices.  We provide many resources on our school website to help guide our students including interactive department pages with information about courses and a career cluster wheel that outlines elective courses offered at Austin High School organized by career interest. 

In the months of February and March, our four counselors will meet with each student at AHS to review their course choices for the next school year as well as review their 4-year academic plan.  The 4-year academic plan is used as a guide for students thinking about future courses they may want to take and to plan for graduation and beyond.  Families and students will be able to review and adjust their academic plan by logging in to Infinite Campus.  Austin High School will host conferences in March where families will be able to ask questions and meet with teachers and counselors to finalize course selections.

The next several months are an important time for our students to plan for the next school year and to think about college and career options for the future. We encourage families to talk to their students about their hopes and goals for the future in order to help plan their academic coursework.  Our students are important to us and we want to ensure that they have a variety of opportunities to best reach their future goals.