High School Education

Allegany County has three comprehensive high schools, a Center for Career and Technology Education and an alternative program for high school students. Students in grades 9 through 12 attend one of the three high schools, Allegany, Fort Hill or Mountain Ridge. Students in grades 11 and 12 have the option of attending the Center for Career and Technical Education enrolling in one or more of the fifteen career programs offered. A student in Allegany County must earn a minimum of 21 ½ credits beyond the eighth grade to graduate. Graduation Requirements can be found here.  In addition to the required courses for graduation, many others are available in foreign language, business education, fine arts and technology education. Numerous career and technology education completer programs are also available in the comprehensive high schools. For more information on course offerings please review the 2009-10 Programs of Study booklet.

Curriculum and Instruction in the first two years of high school reflect the skills and content knowledge identified in the Core Learning Goals for the four core areas: Algebra/Data Analysis, Government, Biology and English . In addition, the Core Learning Goals for Skills for Success are meant to be part of each of the four content areas. The Skills for Success include Learning Skills, Thinking Skills, Communication Skills, Technology Skills and Interpersonal Skills. Students in the graduating class of 2009 and beyond are required to take and pass the High School Assessments (HSA) at the end of each core area course to ensure that they are proficient in the skills and content of that course. A Bridge Plan option is available to students who do not successfully pass the High School Assessments but meet other requirements as outlined on the http://mdbridgeplan.org website. 

Once a student passes the four high school assessments, the focus of curriculum and instruction shifts to preparing students to become university completers or occupational completer or both. The criteria for the completer programs can be found in the 2009-10 Programs of Study booklet.