Century High School Profile

CITY AND COMMUNITY OF ROCHESTER, MINNESOTA AND ROCHESTER PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Rochester is a rapidly growing city in Southeastern Minnesota.  It is located approximately 80 miles southeast of the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul.  Rochester is the county seat for Olmsted County.  The population of Rochester is presently estimated at 116,961.  It is the third largest city in Minnesota.  There are approximately 80,000 people employed in the city.  A high proportion of these individuals are in professional and managerial work due to the influence of the medical and scientific staff at the Mayo Clinic and other biomedical and technological employers.

The Rochester Public Schools enroll nearly 18,000 students in sixteen elementary schools, four middle schools, three high schools, and one alternate school.  The two other public high schools in Rochester are John Marshall and Mayo.  Each high school has a geographic attendance area. The attendance area for Century High School includes part of the city of Rochester as well as adjacent rural townships and the small towns of Oronoco and Hammond.  Minnesota also allows students to open-enroll into school districts of their choice and Century has a number of students attending each year who live in other school districts in southeast Minnesota as well as a handful of foreign exchange students.

CENTURY HIGH SCHOOL

Opened in 1997, Century High School is Rochester’s newest four-year comprehensive public high school.  Since then, Century has established an enviable record of excellence.  It is recognized by both Newsweek and US News as one of Minnesota’s Top High Schools.  Several Century students have received national recognition in math and science competitions.  Century regularly sends a majority of its graduates to four year colleges and universities, including many of the nation’s finest from coast to coast. Over 60% of Century teachers have a Master’s Degree or higher.

Century High School maintains a curriculum designed to meet the needs of its diverse student body.  Advanced Placement (AP) courses are presently being offered in the following areas:  English Literature, English Language, Calculus AB and BC, Statistics, Computer Science, Biology, Chemistry, Physics I, Physics II, Psychology, Geography, Macroeconomics, Government and Politics – U. S., United States History.  There are over 100 Honors/Honors Option courses covering most subject areas.  Other programs available are Post-Secondary Enrollment Options (PSEO), College in the Schools (CIS), Tech Prep, and Project Lead the Way (PLTW). Tech Prep and PLTW courses count toward programs offered at participating colleges. PLTW Principles of Engineering satisfies our Physical Science Requirement, PLTW Principles of Biomedical Science satisfies our Biology requirement, and PLTW Intro to Engineering Design satisfies our Art requirement. World Language offerings for the 2019-2020 school year consist of levels 1-4 of Spanish, 1-3 of Latin, 1-2 of French, and level 2 of German.

The student population in October for the 2019-2020 school year totaled 1553 students, of those 347 were seniors and 427 juniors.  Student demographics included less than 1% American Indian, 11% Asian, 12% Black, 9% Hispanic, 3% Multiethnic, and 65% White.  Additionally, 7% of students were categorized as receiving Limited English Proficiency services, 11% receiving Special Education services, 23% receiving Free or Reduced Price Lunches, and 1% identified as homeless or in a transitional housing situation.

Century High School has an eight-hour day with two semester grading periods, including one hour for lunch; students may take six or seven class periods per semester.  Classes are 50 minutes long; Two-hour block courses are also offered, including some offsite at our CTECH campus next to Rochester Community and Technical College.  (Note: A class taken for one period for one semester equals 0.5 credit; a two-hour block for one semester is 1.0 credit). Additionally, all students have a weekly 20 minute Advisement period for which no credit is awarded. 

 

GRADING SYSTEM/CLASS RANK

Grades are traditional A, B, C, D, F along with some courses graded on a Pass/No Credit basis. 

The Rochester Public Schools use a dual system of grade point averages, unweighted and weighted, with corresponding class ranks.  The unweighted grade point average is calculated whereby A = 4.0, B = 3.0, etc.  The unweighted GPA is computed based upon all subjects and courses taken for letter grades. We do not formally report student conduct, behavior, or discipline records.

The Rochester School District has implemented weighted grading in addition to the traditional grading system. The traditional system will be used in determining school/district graduation recognition and scholarship awards.  Either system can be used for college admission and scholarships.  Both rankings will be displayed on the transcript if students take honors/AP courses. The courses that are weighted are Honors, Honors Option, and Advanced Placement.  The weighted grading formula for A, B and C letter grades is (Grade x 1.25). 

 

Median Unweighted (Weighted) GPA for Class of 2020 through Junior year:  3.34 (3.50)         

 Top 25^th %: 3.80 (4.11)             Bottom 25^th %: 2.70 (2.77)

At the start of the 2019-2020 school year, there are 29 students (out of 354) tied with a 4.0 to rank unweighted first in our senior class.                                                                   

GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS for Class of 2020

Students must successfully complete a minimum of 24.0 credits to graduate from Century High School.  The credit requirements for graduation are:

English - 4.0 credits (including 0.5 cr. Speech)   

Social Studies - 3.0 credits (including 1.0 cr. World History, 1.0 cr. U.S. History, 0.5 cr. Human Geography, and 0.5 cr. US Government)

Math - 3.0 credits (including 1.0 cr. Algebra II)           

Fine Arts – 1.0 credit                

Economics – 0.5 credit           

Physical Education - 0.5 credit       

Health - 0.5 credit                 

Science - 3.0 credits (including 1.0 cr. Biological Science, 1.0 cr. Chemistry, and 1.0 cr. Physics)      

Electives – 8.5 credits

 

HONORS, ADVANCED PLACEMENT AND POST SECONDARY OPTIONS

Honors courses are designed to go into greater depth and at a faster pace than regular courses in each subject area.  Honors Option courses are courses in which the student contracts with the teacher to earn Honors credit.  Students may apply to receive an Honors Diploma.  They must complete 12 credits of Honors and/or Honors Option course work in which they have earned a grade of A or B.  Upon request, students are allowed to take AP exams in subject areas in which they have not had an AP class.  Students in AP classes are encouraged, but not required, to take the AP exam.

 

Qualified juniors and seniors may also take courses at technical colleges, community colleges, or 4-year colleges for credit in high school through the Post Secondary Enrollment Options (PSEO) or College in the Schools (CIS) programs. Some students who have been identified as gifted or accelerated in math may have taken and earned credit in high school level math courses while still in middle school. These courses all appear on the high school transcript and are included in student credit totals and grade point averages.