How to Help Your High School Students Graduate Early

Typically, high school takes four years to complete, but some students crave a fast-paced academic timeline. There are benefits of graduating high school early, including the ability to start college or pursue a job opportunity. With the right approach and work ethic, it’s possible to earn a high school diploma in less than four years. In this guide for teachers, we’ve shared how to help your students graduate high school on an accelerated timeline.

First, we recommend sitting down with your student and asking them about their academic goals. When do they hope to graduate high school? Why do they want to graduate early? Once you’ve gotten a sense of where they’re coming from, you can start drafting a plan of attack. In most cases, we recommend telling students to aim for graduating a semester early, rather than a full year. It’s a more realistic goal.

Once you’ve agreed on a graduation plan, it’s time to put it into action. Look through your school’s academic handbook with the student to determine how many credits they will need to graduate. Then, subtract the number of credits that the student has already completed. With this concrete number, you can plot out how many credits the student will need to take each semester.

Next, help the student narrow down the specific classes they absolutely need to take in order to graduate. They may also need to talk to an academic adviser so they don’t forget a class. For example, English, History, Math, Science, Foreign Language, and Gym are usually all required. Once these courses have been accounted for, you can ask the student to fulfill their remaining credits with electives.

Finally, your student may need some assistance when plotting out their remaining courses. We recommend creating a blank schedule template with multiple columns, which your student can use to plan each semester. Make sure that they jot down how many credits each class is worth. Then, they can add up all the credits and see if they meet the graduation requirements.

At GraduationSource, we believe that every student deserves a tailored education that fits their learning style and academic goals. Sometimes, there are good reasons to graduate high school early. Visit our blog for more educational resources and teaching tips.