School Profile

Rochester is a rapidly growing city in Southeastern Minnesota, located approximately 80 miles southeast of the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul. The population of Rochester is approximately 116,900, and is the third largest city in Minnesota with 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.

Rochester Public Schools enroll nearly 18,000 students in sixteen elementary schools, four middle schools, three high schools, and one alternate school. Each high school has a geographic attendance area. Century High School's attendance area includes part of the city of Rochester as well as adjacent rural townships and the small towns of Oronoco and Hammond. The state of Minnesota also allows students to open-enroll into school districts of their choice. 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.

The school year consists of four quarters, each nine weeks long. Credit is awarded at the end of each semester. 

The day is divided into eight fifty-minute periods and students must enroll in at least six classes each semester. 

Note: .5 credit=1 class period for 1 semester 

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

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 2021 through Junior year:  3.34 (3.55)         

• Top 25^th percent: 3.81 (4.22)             
• Bottom 25^th percent: 2.77 (2.83)

At the start of the 2020-2021 school year, there were 34 students (out of 440) tied with a 4.0 to rank unweighted first in our senior class.                              

Graduation Requirements for the Class of 2021:

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

•       Century Graduates Enrolling in College in the fall after graduation: 84%

•       RCTC, U of MN – Twin Cities, Minnesota State - Mankato, U of MN - Duluth, University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire, Cornell University, Tufts University, and Winona State University are all destinations for multiple graduates from the class of 2020

•       Within 6 years of graduation, 70% of Century Graduates have a post-secondary credential of some kind compared to 53% statewide (class of 2012 data)

•       55% have a Bachelor’s degree (compared to 38% statewide)

•       15% have an Associate’s Degree, Diploma, or Certificate (compared to 15% statewide)

Honors courses are open to all students meeting the course prerequisites. Those courses are designated on the transcript with “H” after the course title. Advanced Placement courses are college-level studies within the high school and “AP” is included in the course title. 

There are also courses which offer an honors option to students who wish to be additionally challenged. Those courses are designated on the transcript with “HO” after the course title. 

An honors diploma is granted to those students who complete and earn a final semester grade of A or B in at least 24 semesters of honors/honors option courses. 

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.

• AP Biology  
• AP Calculus AB
• AP Calculus BC 
• AP Chemistry 
• AP Computer Sci A 
• AP Human Geography
• AP Lang. and Comp. 
• AP Lit. and Comp.
• AP Macroeconomics 
• AP Physics 1 
• AP Physics 2 
• AP Psychology 
• AP Statistics 
• AP US Government 

• Mentorship in the Community
• College in School (CIS) 
• Office Aide, Teacher Aide, Tutorial Assistant 
• Post Secondary Enrollment Options (PSEO)
• Credit by Assessment
• Independent Study 
• Service Learning
• Work Experience 

In March 2020, as in much of the United States, our school district radically altered operations in response to the COVID pandemic. We converted to distance learning at about the halfway point of the spring semester, and adopted modified grading with grades for that semester and so far this year using just the grades A, B, P, and NC. Last spring courses were largely taught asynchronously, during fall of 2020 we are currently using a more synchronous model of distance learning utilizing google classroom and google meets. The format of our classes and school day may yet change again as this school year progresses. The following note also appears on our transcripts regarding spring 2020: “Grades that are documented during the time period of March 16 through June 30 of 2020 reflect the distance learning period resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Future use of these grades for academic placement, admission, acceleration, or remediation is discouraged and should only be used with caution after balancing the information against student performance in other grading periods.”