South Carolina Association of Independent Home Schools

Honors Course Information

Definition:

An honors course is an academic course (usually in the core areas of English, math, science, or social studies) which is more demanding than a college prep course. Advanced course work and a greater time commitment are required of the student and course materials must be differentiated and more rigorous than those used in a college prep course. Honors courses are designed to place emphasis on critical and analytical thinking, rational decision-making, and inductive and deductive reasoning, and are, therefore, intended for students with superior abilities in the course content area.

Criteria:

Additional reading and/or research on a particular concept or aspect of the course should be included
(For example, in an Honors English course, a student might read 5 additional books, depending on the rigor/length of each book; in an Honors science course, a student might read articles from scientific journals or books, and complete internet research on the topic chosen for a project.)
Additional writing – should include critical analysis of some kind
Project(s) – (see guidelines below) and/or Research Paper(s)
Presentation (of either a Project or a Research Paper)

Guidelines:

All textbooks/coursework must be completed in their entirety in the academic year in which the course begins
An Honors Addendum listing the additional honors work that will be required of the student (see criteria above), should be attached to the course description of a college prep course and submitted before the course begins.
Honors coursework should be documented on the Progress Report(s) and the Course Credit Record
Per State Department of Education policy, Honors credit cannot be earned for Special Topics courses, electives, and foreign language courses unless the student is earning a 3rd or 4th unit of credit in that content area.
Writing:
- Writing requirements can vary depending upon the course and emphasis of the course, but it must be more than is required in a college prep (CP) course.
  [For example, in a Track I(CP) English course, a student would complete a minimum of 3-4 finished written assignments (essays, compositions, short research papers, etc.) per quarter; In Track I(CP) History and Science courses, a student would complete a minimum of 2 finished written assignments
  (about 2 pages each) per quarter, and be given essay questions on tests.]
- Writing assignments should demonstrate critical and analytical thinking skills.
- Writing assignments may not be used in two different courses when one is Honors level.
  (For example, a research paper written for a college prep history course cannot also count as the research paper/project for an Honors level English course. Additionally, one research paper/project can not be used for two different Honors level courses.)
Projects: The Honors project(s) chosen and completed by the student should 1) have a direct correlation to the subject matter of the course, 2) include analysis of some aspect of the course, and 3) demonstrate a deeper understanding of some concept(s) specifically related to the course.
The recommended time to be spent on Honors projects is determined by the number of projects a student plans to complete in the course. Projects may be approached in one of the following three ways:

1) If the student wants to complete 4 smaller projects, he should plan to:
- Complete 1 per quarter (7-9 weeks average for each) and
- Spend approximately 4-6 hours per project (including presentation time for one of the projects)
2) If the student wants to complete 2 larger projects, he should plan to:
- Complete 1 per semester (10-15 weeks average) and
- Spend approximately 8-12 hours per project (including presentation time for one of the projects)
3) If the student wants to complete 1 long and involved project, he should plan to:
- Complete a year-long project (18-30 weeks average) and
- Spend approximately 15-25 hours on the project chosen (including presentation time)

For more information see SDE website: http://ed.sc.gov/