School Profile

List of 8 items.

• Academic Rigor

  Enriched: Courses designated as enriched  are designed to move through subject matter at a demanding pace, and students may delve more deeply into specific areas as interested.  

   

  Honors: Courses designated as honors are equal to and more often exceed the level of expectation and depth of study required by College Board Advanced Placement courses. Most advanced courses become available to students in the Form III year.   

• Graduation Requirements

  The required course load is four, full-credit academic courses per year. 
  
  

  SUBJECT	CREDITS	REQUIRED COURSES
  English	12	English I, II, III, Two Senior Semesters
  Math	9	Three years with minimum completion of Integrated Math III
  Science	9	Physics, Chemistry, Biology
  World Languages	9 or through Level III	Minimum of two years in the same language
  History	7.5	World History,  US Government, US History
  Fine Arts	3	History of Art and Music

  
  
  

• Integrated Math

  Integrated Math spirals concepts from Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II over a three-year period. All students will graduate with a firm foundation in these three subjects, having completed the equivalent of a year of study in each. In addition, concepts from statistics/probability, logical reasoning, and discrete mathematics are spiraled throughout the program.    

• Interdisciplinary Courses

  Interdisciplinary courses at Hockaday access content and skills from two or more disciplines. Interdisciplinary courses by their nature stimulate curiosity, embrace ambiguity, and foster broader purpose. These courses ask that students focus on integrating seemingly disparate ideas to generate novel perspectives and build empathy; applying knowledge in unexpected contexts; synthesizing insights to build new ways of viewing the world and themselves; and drawing upon material from multiple disciplines to solve problems.  

• Ranking and GPA

  It is Hockaday’s policy not to rank students. Grade point average is cumulative, unweighted, calculated on a four-point scale, and includes all Hockaday classes. GPAs are updated at the end of each academic year. Honors and advanced placement courses are not weighted. 

• Semester Courses

  Semester courses are widely available to students in their junior and senior years. Many of these courses are among the most demanding classes available. Semester courses are designed to align with the college model that allows students to develop a concentration while maintaining breadth of study.  

• Social Impact Courses

  Courses with the Social Impact designation are connected to the Institute for Social Impact. To have the Social Impact designation, courses must meet the goals of three of the four pillars (service learning, community service, community engagement, and social entrepreneurship) and actively create opportunities for students to experience outcomes such as increased advocacy skills, real-world interactions, and practice designing solutions, exploring purpose, and building empathy. 

• Additional Education Opportunities

  There are additional education options available to Hockaday students, including directed independent study projects, Marine Biology Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA, Rocky Mountain Biological Lab in Colorado, SEGL in Washington, D.C., and Swiss Semester in Zermatt, to name a few. Additionally, students may take courses offered by One Schoolhouse (OSH) to expand the array of courses available to them. Hockaday considers these courses to be an equivalent educational experience to a course taken in a traditional classroom setting.