Our Mission

Working together as a team, we will end the predictive value of race, class, gender, and special capacities for our children’s success through high quality teaching and learning for all. We seek to build relationships with families and communities to ensure that every student succeeds. We will know every student.

Our Mission

High School Program of Studies

Introduction

Welcome to the High School Program of Studies for Albemarle County Public Schools (ACPS) for the 2023-24 school year. This online, interactive guide serves as a tool to assist students with course selections and long-term educational and career planning. Each January, school counselors, in collaboration with parents and teachers, assist each student in planning a program of study and selecting courses for the next school year.

The content in this online guide is updated on an as-needed basis. A printable PDF version is produced annually: 2023-24 High School Program of Studies (Oct. 23, 2023).

Course Requests

The course request process for the upcoming year is an opportunity for students to think carefully about their interests, achievements, and educational and career goals. We encourage students to give serious consideration to this process.

Course Request Timeline

Course Request Timeline

November

High School Program of Studies is updated for the following school year and made available online to students and parents to prepare for the course request process
Career Learning Community presentations in Freshman Seminar classes
Mailing to families about career learning opportunities

December – January

Classroom Curriculum Showcase for current high school students
Virtual family information sessions for all rising ninth-grade students to discuss opportunities available during the high school years and to prepare for immediate transition to the base school
Portal opens for families to complete initial course requests; school counselors begin meeting with students individually to discuss five-year plans, learning community options, and transcripts

January – March

Families schedule a meeting with school counselors to finalize course requests
Teachers enter comments regarding student progress and course requests

Last Friday in March

To allow for the building of a balanced master schedule, all course request adjustments must be made by the last Friday in March.

Early August

High school summer orientation for rising ninth-grade students

SchoolLinks Career Planning

All Albemarle County high school students will graduate with a career plan. With the support of school counselors and career specialists, students will develop and refine their SchoolLinks career plan through a 4-year planning process that allows students to:

Establish short-term and long-term education/career goals;
Assess personal interests as they relate to career decisions;
Formulate thoughtful educational plans that reflect rigorous academics in their chosen career directions;
Participate in electives, extracurricular activities, and community service projects supporting their career directions; and
Include internships or cooperative work experiences during their junior and/or senior years.

Making a Career Plan: Getting Started

According to research, there are four main pillars of career planning:

Self-Assessment: Learn more about you; be clear about your likes, dislikes, values, personality, and learning style.
Research: Find out more about the careers that interest you— about the output of these careers and what the working situations will be like.
Make a Fit: Match your skills with the career that best suits you and your skill sets.
Create a Plan: Craft a whole plan that includes finding an educational program, selection of a school, financial aid, resume preparation, standardized admission tests, and interviewing techniques.

Parents and guardians are encouraged to create a guardian account in SchoolLinks to support your students through the career planning process. A guardian account also gives you access to student college planning and allows you to register for district events and communicate with your child's school counselor.

SchoolLinks Resource:

Guardian: How to Create an Account and Claim a Student

Career Clusters: Pathways to College & Career Readiness

Career clusters help students investigate careers and design their courses of study to advance their career goals. A career cluster is a grouping of occupations and broad industries based on commonalities. Within each career cluster, there are multiple career pathways that represent a common set of skills and knowledge, both academic and technical, necessary to pursue a full range of career opportunities within that pathway—ranging from entry level to management, including technical and professional career specialties.

To learn more about each of Virginia's 17 career clusters, visit the Careers link in the left-navigation of your SchoolLinks account (Careers > Career Center > Clusters).

Plans of Study

Plans of study provide successful student transitions between secondary and post-secondary education. The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) provides sample Academic and Career Plans of Study aligned to the National Career Clusters framework. This resource is designed to assist Career and Technical Education (CTE) administrators and school counselors in developing student academic and career plans of study for each pathway within a career cluster. The sample plans of study provided by the VDOE meets all state and federal requirements.

Note: The VDOE's sample plans of study do not include Freshman Seminar, which is a required course for all ninth-grade ACPS students.

Expanding Opportunities for Students

Piloted in 2019-20 and expanded in 2020-21, ACPS allows students the opportunity to participate in unique courses and explore career pathways of interest at a location other than their base high school. In this scenario, students maintain their base high school status for sports and extracurricular activities.

By eliminating geography from the equation, ACPS is expanding student access to our current learning communities and newly-developed programs like the National Defense Cadet Corps, the Early College Scholars Degree Program, and the Information and Communication Learning Community.

ACPS is committed to increasing learning opportunities for students! Look for even more academies and career pathways in 2023 and beyond designed around the Department of Education’s Career Clusters as we seek to make our students' high school experience more engaging, more meaningful, and more relevant to their futures!