Florence ISD

Purpose of Advanced Academics at FHS

The purpose of Advanced Academics at FHS is to prepare students for college level course work, and to support students in earning college credit while in high school.

Begin with the end in mind

When engaging in advanced academic courses always begin with the end goal in mind. When taking Advanced Placement (AP), or Dual Credit classes, will they transfer to your desired college, will they transfer to your desired degree plan? Is that important to you?

Honors

At FHS, Honors courses are offered in English, science, social studies, mathematics, and Spanish.

The goals of Honors courses are to:

Help students develop academic skills needed for success in AP and/or dual credit classes, and eventually college.

Provide an opportunity for students to work with engaging grade appropriate content.

Expose students to critical thinking tasks that will build academic stamina and help students work with a productive academic struggle.

Advanced Placement

FHS offers Advanced Placement classes to high school students who are ready the chance to engage in college-level work while in high school. FHS offers AP classes in English, social studies, math, and Spanish.

AP courses are open to all students with the prerequisite coursework who wish to take on the additional challenge of advanced academics. AP courses concentrate on providing students with rigorous college-level academic instruction by a College Board authorized AP teacher while preparing students for the AP exam associated with the course. A score of 3 or better on an AP exam is often accepted for college credit at a number of universities across the nation.

Dual Credit

Dual credit is a process that allows a high school student to enroll in a college course and receive simultaneous credit from both the high school and the college. 

Central Texas College

Florence High School partners with Central Texas College to offer a variety of dual credit courses. 

Dual Credit courses, which are optional courses offered as part of our dual credit program, involve college-level content that may explore topics beyond the scope of typical high school courses. It is important for students and parents/guardians to be aware that some of the material covered in these courses may not align with the policies and guidelines set by the school district.

Tarleton Today

Florence High School partners with Tarleton State University to offer two CTE dual credit courses, Intro to Animal Science and Intro to Agricultural Economics.

Dual Enrollment - OnRamps

OnRamps is an initiative of The University of Texas at Austin which provides academic opportunities and support to prepare students for college success. Florence High School offers OnRamps Chemistry. This course is delivered through a dual enrollment model, which means students are enrolled in both a high school course, led by a high school teacher, taught on the campus, and a college course, led by a faculty member or college instructor of record, taught online.

Unlike other dual credit classes students have the choice to post grades to a college transcript or not. Eligible students may elect to enroll in an OnRamps course for a letter grade. If the student earns and accepts credit in the course, the grade will appear on the student's university transcript. A letter grade of D- or better is considered passing.

OnRamps college credit earned for a letter grade of C- or above for courses with a Core Curriculum designation are required by law to transfer to any public higher education institution in the state of Texas.

AP vs. Dual Credit

Should my child take Dual Credit or AP? The answer is it depends on your goals. There are many differences between the programs.

Link to comparison chart

Core 42

The Texas Core Curriculum (TCC) is a 42-semester credit hour core curriculum for all undergraduate students in Texas colleges and universities. Students who earn 42 semester credit hours in most cases will be able to transfer these to the university they plan to attend. Florence High School has a memorandum of understanding with Central Texas College that allows students to take 42-semester credit hours in the Texas Core Curriculum for Dual Credit.

While most semester credit hours will transfer to Texas public colleges and universities, it is still important that you plan with the end in mind and check with your desired college and degree plan to know if these courses will transfer.

Course Commitment

Advanced Academic Commitment

Petition for Course Exit

Summer Reading

As FHS is continuing to try to improve student readiness, we are adding a summer reading component for students participating in our advanced English classes. Students taking Honors English II, or AP English will have a summer reading assignment.

Click on the specific class to access the summer reading assignment: Honors English II, AP English III Language and Composition, and AP English IV Literature and Composition for the 2024-2025 school year.

Resources

TCCNS: The Texas Common Course Numbering System (TCCNS) is a voluntary, co-operative effort among 137 Texas community colleges and universities to facilitate transfer of freshman and sophomore level general academic coursework. TCCNS provides a shared, uniform set of course designations for students and their advisors to use in determining both course equivalency and degree applicability of transfer credit on a statewide basis. When students transfer between two participating TCCNS institutions, a course taken at the sending institution transfers as the course carrying the same TCCNS designation at the receiving institution:

https://www.tccns.org/

Khan Academy:

https://www.khanacademy.org/

TSIA2 Test Prep:

CTC Test Prep