Choice of Studies
When:Friday, January 23, 2015 – Friday, February 13, 2015 at 12:00 noon
Where:In front of any computer – at DSA or home
Who:Students and Parents
Why:To select your desired classes for the 2015-2016 school year
This year all DSA high school students will do their choice of studies online through parent/student portal – Infinite Campus. During the 3 week window, students/parents may log onto Infinite Campus and select their classes for the 2015-2016 school year. Students/parents may amend class choices as many times as desired during the online window.
We ask that you be very thoughtful in selecting your courses. Pick the classes YOU want for next year – not your friends. We build our master schedule according to what students select in January. If class changes are done in May, it will throw off our master schedule and balance of class loads.
For example, we may have a class of 25 students at the beginning of May. If 10 students decide to drop it for another class, that class goes down to 15 while the class they move into already had 30 students in it with 40 wanting to be in it. There’s a good chance we will not allow you to switch classes in May because of this very scenario.
So – PLEASE be thoughtful in your class choices. Come May – you may not be able to switch into another class because it’s full and it’s not the class you wanted during the Choice window. You are encouraged to look at college MAPS prior to registering. Please be 100% sure that these are the classes you want next year.
These are choices available as of January 1, 2015. These classes will only be placed on the master schedule if enough students enroll. In addition, if classes fill, you may be asked to select another choice – these are called alternates. Classes listed on this sheet are not a certainty. In addition, the final course offerings for the 2015-2016 school year are projected based on our current 2014-2015 staffing and budget. Changes based on the actual 2015-2016 school budget could impact final course offerings.
Please be aware that some “singletons” (classes which only happen once or twice a day) might conflict with each other. For example, you may want to take two classes but they are offered the same period. Students must be flexible when building their schedule. We will do our best to build a master schedule with the least amount of conflicts possible.
The master schedule is not built. Choice of Studies is step one. We do not know what period any academic/elective class will take place. After choice of studies is complete and we see the sections needed for each course, we will begin the process of building the master schedule.
If you plan on taking 5 academic and your arts (7 classes only), only sign up for that. Please DO NOT sign up for an elective you do not intend to take or may drop later. Only sign up for 8 classes if you are going to take 8 classes. We build our master schedule based on the requests. If we have a lot of students request a class and then drop it, that has a severe impact on our ability to build a good master schedule with balanced class loads for our DSA teachers. Please ONLY sign up for the classes you want.
You are ready to begin selecting your classes
1)Please review the choice of studies sheet. Select the classes you want to take. All high school students must take a minimum of 6 classesAT DSA in the fall in order to meet CDE minute requirements. Online classes do not count towards the six class minimum.
2)Log onto Infinite Campus Student Portal
ALL STUDENT USER NAMES AND PASSWORDS were amended on Wednesday, January 21st to ensure that every student could get into the portal. Parent accounts were not touched.
Student user name – six digit DPS ID number
Student password – 8 digit birthdayJohn Smith born on August 6, 1999 would be 08061999
3)Once you are on your account homepage, click on attendance/behavior. This will take you to a new screen.
4) Click on the sideways red words which say “Click here to view attendance detail in Infinite Campus”
You should now be to IC’s version of Student Portal
5)You will see the following in bold print on the left hand side: “Registration 2015-2016/Denver School of the Arts”
a) Don’t see anything in bold? This means something is wrong with your school projection for the 15-16 school year. A simple address change can make this happen. Call our registrar, Dorothy Hurst at 7/424-1710, to see what you need to do to be ‘projected’ to DSA.
6)You will see three blue buttons:
a) Required Courses – you will NOT use this
b) Registered Courses – you will add up to 12 classes (6 per semester) under this button
c) Alternate Courses – you may use this to add additional classes in case you don’t get what you wanted in your 1st choice
7)We will have an 8 period day. 2 classes will be your major. You will NOT select your major classes. Miss Odom will do this for you. Therefore, you will be selecting between 4-6 academic/elective classes.
For example:
Select itas a registered courseIntro to Lit S1This is an example of a seven pd schedule
Intro to Lit S2
Select itas a registered courseAlgebra S1This student requested 4 academics and a
Algebra S2foreign language.
Select itas a registered courseCivics S1
Geography S2This student (as ALL DSA students) has
Select itas a registered courseEarth Science S1his major 2 periods a day.
Earth Science S2
Select itas a registered courseFrench 1 S1This student wants an off period. So – notice he
French 1 S2signed up for 5 classes and his major
Select it as a alternate courseSpanish 1 S1He selected Spanish as an alternate in case French
Spanish 1 S2was full.
Don’t select/it is loaded for youMajor S1 Major S2
Don’t select/it is loaded for youMajor S1
Major S2
6)Use the student box sheet for your planning. Each box equals a semester. Once all the boxes are filled, you have enough credits to graduate. Remember, your arts classes take up four boxes a year since you are in them two periods a day. If there are course names in a box, that means it’s a required course for DPS graduation.
7)Periods off?
9th and 10th graders may have one period off a day. 11th and 12th graders may have up to two periods off a day. This will not get you behind in credits assuming you are taking and passing all required DPS course work. There is plenty of flexibility in an 8 period day to allow a period to study. There are no study halls – therefore – if you take an off period, you are on your own to study.
8)All DSA students MUST have at least 6 classes in the fall to be considered a full time student. This does NOT include online classes
Now you are ready to add courses
1)Go to the top of the screen. You will see a button labeled “Course Search”. Click on that button
2)You will see two blank windows open:
a)course name – you WON’T use this one
b)course number – you WILL use this one
3)Type in the 5 digit course number under “course number” and hit “go”
4)The number and course name will appear on top. Click the course name.
5)You will now see 2 buttons: “Request this Course” or “Request as Alternate”. You want to hit the button on the left to REQUEST this course
6)You will now see that class appear under the “registered courses” button
7)You now need to select between 8 and 12 classes – 4-6 classes for each semester
a)Example: if you select 01358 Intro to Lit and Comp S1, make sure to pick the second semester match:
01359 Intro to Lit and Comp S2
8)You may only select courses on YOUR sheet. For example, freshmen may only select freshmen choice of studies sheet, etc.
9)There is no “submit” button. Once you’ve entered your choices, the system has them.
AP Classes?
Thinking about enrolling in an AP class? You can find out what to expect in a DSA AP class in 2 ways:
1)Go to the DSA website, student, counseling center, miscellaneous, Advanced Placement. At the bottom of this page you will find the full syllabi of all the AP courses being taught this year. You will also find the summer assignment from last year.
2)Go to the DSA website, academic, teacher’s name. Go directly to the teacher who is currently teacher that AP class. Study the website. You will see assignments, tests, etc. This will give you a “real life” look into that actual AP class today.
May 2016 AP tests cost $95 a piece. AP textbooks must also be purchased. Reminder: AP classes have summer assignments that must be completed before school starts. They can be found at
Can’t Add Any More Classes?
You’ve just tried at add another “registered course” and the computer bumped it down to alternate. That means you’ve already selected your maximum classes which is twelve – 6 for first semester and 6 for second semester. The computer will not allow you to select more than 12 courses. Those classes will automatically go under the alternate button. The 12 classes under “registered course” must be the classes you consider first priority.
Delete
You’ve changed your mind and want to delete a course. No problem. Click on the course name under the registered courses or alternate courses tab. Hit “Drop This Request”. Make sure to drop both semesters.
Juniors
All juniors will automatically be enrolled in an ACT class during second semester. This is a mandatory class for all juniors. This class will NOT be during the school day. It will be an “ALT” class – which means it is not a class the student attends. Throughout the course of the year, juniors will be asked to take different practice tests to order to prepare for the ACT in April 2016. Students will turn in this work to Miss Odom and recorded in IC. At the end of second semester, a pass/fail grade will be given. This is a non-honors class for all juniors. It will be worth 5 credits. If you pass, this non-honors class will NOT affect your GPA. If you fail this non-honors class, this non-honors class WILL affect your GPA. This is FYI. You will not enter this class during Choice of Studies
Add an Alternate
Add any alternates you want here.
Audition/Selection Course
You plan on being on the yearbook staff or Vanguard, etc, etc, but auditions/selections are not until later this spring. What do you do? Go ahead and add that speciality class. Depending on the results of your selection/audition into the class, the counselors will add/delete it from your schedule.
CU Succeed
For those incoming juniors and seniors who want to take CU Succeed, the classes cost $225 per semester. You will receive both DPS credit AND CU credit for these classes. Select the CU Succeed course for the course and not the teacher. The CU professor is not a guarantee and is not decided upon by DSA. For the 15/16 school year, CU Succeed Social Studies will count for the Civics requirement.
May 4, 2015
All students will receive a hard copy of their 2015/2016 class schedule. All changes must be complete by May 29th
at noon. No classes (for 1st or 2nd semester) may be added/changed during the 15/16 school year.
Withdrawing from/Dropping Classes
Students may only DROP classes in the fall during the first 6 weeks without penalty on the transcript. After this window, if a class is dropped, it will register as a W/F on the transcript. Students may not add a class in the fall or the spring.
Honors vs Non Honors
Honors vs non-honors classes: Many classes offer both an honors option as well as a regular option. For purposes of scheduling, we are placing our entire student body in one section – the honors section. Students and parents will have until the 4th Friday of the fall semester and the 4th Friday of the spring semester to make a choice of whether to take the class as a regular class (based on a 4.0 scale) or as an honors class (based on a 5.2 scale). This will not affect their schedule, as all modifications to content and work load will be made within the class.
Don’t want to be in an honors class?
See above. The entire student body is being loaded in one section per class. If you don’t want to be in honors, in the fall and/or spring you will make the decision to take the class for regular credit.
What is MAPS?
Each college has a list on their website of required courses to be accepted to their college/school. This is called this Minimum Academic Preparation Standards (MAPS). Check the MAPS requirements for schools you are considering for college BEFORE you do your Choice of Studies. For example, we have had juniors NOT sign up for physics, visit CU in the summer, and come back in the fall and want to add the course. Students will NOT be able to add classes in the fall.
Student Assistant
Want to be a student assistant for a teacher? Since the master schedule isn’t built yet, you don’t know when you will have an open period. In May (when you can make changes) you can add the assistantship. No assistantships will be added in the fall of 2015 or spring of 2016. Assistantships in the main office, counseling office and library are for a full year. They may not be dropped for any reason.
Online Registration Only - no paper copies
All current 8th – 11th graders are required to do their Choice of Studies online. No paper copies will be accepted. If you do not have access to a computer at home, you are welcome to use the computers in the Counseling Center.
Notes About Foreign Language
Are you a native speaker of Spanish or French?
Have you already studies Spanish or French at a previous school OR in middle school at another school?
If yes to either question, you need to see a foreign language teacher BEFORE you sign up for your language class. They will correctly place you in the foreign language class which best fits your abilities.
Civics Credit
DSA will allow you to get credit in three ways: Civics, AP Government and Politics and CU Succeed Social Studies. CU Succeed SS will count for civics credit on “even” graduating years - for example, 2016, 2018, etc.
Parent Questions??
We know that you may have questions about math level, meeting graduation requirements, etc. This is why the window is open for three weeks. If you have questions, please email your counselor. They will look up your child’s transcript and email you back.
Master Course Catalog
Available on the DSA website. Homepage, students, counseling department, 2015-2016 Choice of Studies
Once Again….
If you plan on taking 5 academic and your arts (7 classes only), only sign up for that. Please DO NOT sign up for an elective you do not intend to take or may drop later. Only sign up for 8 classes if you are going to take 8 classes. We build our master schedule based on the requests. If we have a lot of students request a class and then drop it, that has a severe impact on our ability to build a good master schedule with balanced class loads for all DSA teachers. Please ONLY sign up for the classes you want. Put any other academic or elective choices under alternate if you do not think you will end up taking the class.
A – F high school counselorBriAnne
G – L high school counselorGina
M – Z high school counselorKristy
Master Scheduler/Assistant PrincipalMiranda