• • VLA courses are at level, not Honors. 
  • The grade earned in this course will not count towards a high school GPA. The course name and final grade will be listed on the high school transcript.
  • If students take a VLA course, the following school year’s course requests will not change until August when final grades confirm that students have earned credit.

Courses available to middle school students include:

• Spanish 1 and Spanish 2
  • It is recommended that students enroll in Spanish at their home school during the school year. 
  • If students wish to enroll in Spanish for their foreign language credit, we recommend that students take Spanish 1 in 7th grade and Spanish 2 in 8th grade. This will allow students to enroll in Honors Spanish 3 and AP Spanish 4 in high school.
  • Currently, VLA does not offer 3 or 4 Spanish courses.
  • There is no Spanish 3 course option in 8th grade unless students are in the dual language program. If students finish Spanish 2 before 8th grade, they will need to enroll in Spanish as an elective course.
  • To graduate from high school, students only need 2 years of the same language for their foreign language credit. Some students choose to take 3 or 4 years of a language. Check the admission requirements of the colleges and universities you are interested in to see how many foreign language credits they require.
  • Students may enroll in Spanish 1 and Spanish 2 in 9th grade or another language. This is not a requirement in middle school. VLA does not currently offer Spanish 3 or 4

• American Sign Language (ASL) or Latin
  • If students enroll in ASL, Latin, or French through VLA, they must continue these courses at VLA or until students begin high school. Middle schools in LISD do not offer these language courses.
  •  ASL, French, German, Spanish, and Latin are languages ​​available at the high school level.

• Fine Arts
  • If students enjoy making art and want to pursue advanced art classes with practical skills, we do not recommend the VLA art course. The VLA course will be more art history and theoretical instruction online. It would be best for your student to enroll in this course as an 8th grader in middle school or enroll in person in high school. Students can then pursue other advanced art courses in high school.
  • If the purpose of your student enrolling in this course is just to earn a high school fine arts credit, a good time to do so is the summer before their 9th grade year or in high school.
  • Students who wish to enroll in this course the summer before 7th grade will be denied enrollment.
  • Students who wish to enroll in this course the summer before 8th grade will be required to have 1 year of middle school fine arts as a prerequisite.
  • Note: Fine arts, band, choir, orchestra, drama, dance, and other related courses also count toward high school fine arts credit in grades 9-12. The minimum graduation requirement is 1 credit of a fine arts course.

• Algebra 1
  • Students must pass Math 7 with Honors or Math 8 before enrolling in the Algebra 1 course through VLA.
  • The VLA Algebra 1 course is a leveled course and not an honors course.
  • There is a mandatory End of Course (EOC) exam with algebra tied to high school graduation. Students will not be able to take this exam in the summer, but will be required to take the exam at their high school, at the next testing opportunity. Students will need to keep up and remember the material for this exam, on their own.
  •  If students pass both semesters (part A and B) before 8th grade, students will need to attend the geometry course at their local high school. Students will need to be at high school no later than 8:15 a.m. Students will then need to return to their middle school in time for 2nd period, around 9:45 a.m. each morning. Transportation must be provided by parents. There is no district transportation to take your child to or from high school or middle school.

• Geometry
  • Students must have passed Algebra 1 and the End-of-Course exam before enrolling in the VLA Geometry course.
  • This course is an at-level course and not an honors/GT course.

• Algebra 2
  • Students must have passed the high school geometry course before enrolling in Algebra 2 VLA.
  •  This course is an at-grade level course and not an honors/GT course.