High school students who intend to pursue a bachelor’s degree at public colleges/universities in Illinois are recommended to minimally take the following subjects in high school: English Language Arts (4 years); Mathematics (3 years); Science (3 years); Social Studies (3 years); and Art, Music, World Language, or Vocational Education (2 years). See individual college admission requirements for detailed information about each institution.

Freshmen and sophomores are required to take seven academic classes per day and one Academic Support Period (ASP) class (for no credit). Sophomores with an unweighted GPA of 3.0 or higher may opt out of Academic Support Period (ASP) to take an additional course for credit. Academic Support Period classes (for no credit) do not count as an academic class.

Juniors and seniors are required to take six academic classes per day, but may elect to take up to eight classes per day. Juniors and seniors have the option to take an Academic Support Period in addition to six or seven academic classes. Except in the case of freshmen and sophomores with a P.E. Exemption, students may not take more than one Academic Support Period per day. Students are required to have one lunch period per day.

Graduation Requirements:

A minimum of 26.00 credits must be earned, including the following: 

+ State law requires students to take Algebra and Geometry, leaving one additional elective math unit.

++ These courses satisfy the state requirement for Consumer Ed, Civics, and U.S. History. 

+++ Physical Education is required only for each semester a student is in attendance at a District 300 school, which may be less than 3.5 units if a student graduates early.