Students who are interested in applying for Early Graduation must be on-track for graduation with their cohort. District students may graduate at the end of the 3rd year of high school (May) or at the close of 1st semester during the 4th year of high school (December).
In order to start the process of applying for Early Graduation, students need to meet with their counselor to obtain an Early Graduation Intent Form.
The Early Graduation request, documentation, and protocol consist of:
1. Intent form is completed (top portion) by student/parent and submitted to school counselor. 2. Advisement conference by school counselor is held with student/parent or guardian to discuss options other than early graduation. Some of these options include: a. Dual Enrollment b. Career Pathways c. Work-based Learning d. Other
3. The Director of Counseling Services reviews all documentation and if no additional information is needed, emails the Executive Director of Secondary Operations that the packet is ready for review.
4. An Early Graduation team reviews the packet of information (typical time frame is late November), and IC grades are reviewed by Director of Counselor Services before the team review.
5. After all documentation is reviewed; the principal and counselor of record are notified via email that the request has been approved. If additional information is needed, the principal and counselor of record are notified what information is needed.
6. If the request is not approved, the Director of Counseling Services notifies the principal and counselor of record that the request has not been approved.
7. Once the counselor and principal receive an approval email, they are required to follow-up after semester grades are posted to the transcript that all required courses have been successfully passed with a 70 or higher.
8. The counselor notifies student/parent that the graduation date has been updated in the student information system and that the official transcript reflects the graduation date. The date of graduation is always the last school day of either 1st or 2nd semester.
9. During mid-February or mid-June, the student’s transcript data is uploaded to the Georgia Student Finance Commission and a final verification process takes place. Post secondary institutions have this verified data from the Georgia Student Finance Commission (HOPE Eligible or HOPE Ineligible).