Academic credit for high school sports?

January 22, 2006 3:25 PM

Do high school athletes receive academic credit?

Are high school athletics, generally, strictly extra-curricular, or do they appear on a high school transcript somehow? Do they receive a grade?

If athletes don't get any school credit for these sports, how do they satisfy their physical education requirement? Is it waived, or does the sport count somehow towards that credit?

posted by Brian James to sports, hobbies, & recreation (25 comments total)

No grade. At my highschool, athletes generally tried to get PE at the end of the day, before practice/games as a warmup, and so that if they missed class it wouldn't really matter.

Some schools offer one credit of pass credit (doesn't count towards your GPA, but counts towards HS graduation) per sports season.

Generally, you'll list it as strictly extra curricular, and if you're good enough, you'll talk to the recruiter at any college you apply to.
posted by devilsbrigade at 3:34 PM on January 22, 2006

At my high school (public school, suburban Atlanta, 1990-94), sports were strictly extra-curricular. I think everyone was required to take two semesters of PE total (over the course of four years); athletes just took the classes with the rest of us.

The sports wouldn't appear on the transcript, but you could certainly list them (and any related awards) on your CV/resume/college application.

I've never heard of grading or getting academic credit for sports in high school.
posted by occhiblu at 3:36 PM on January 22, 2006

I've only ever heard of high school athletics counting towards P.E. credit, if that. In schools where P.E. classes result in letter grades, it seems possible that high school athletics would go towards a grade - albeit one that [like religion classes] colleges and employers probably don't pay attention to. I'd imagine that such credit wouldn't mention the sport or any details, though... those are the sorts of things that one would have to voluntarily add to an application/resume/etc. I haven't heard of many places that give any credit at all for athletics, however. Certainly at my school, everyone [athletes included] had to take two semesters of P.E. Note that at least within the U.S., you're likely to see some variation between different school districts, private schools, religious schools, etc. on this issue.
posted by ubersturm at 3:40 PM on January 22, 2006

No PE credit - everyone has to write their name on a white tshirt and run around the track, wrestle, and play volley ball their freshman year regardless of how extra-curricular they are.
posted by sled at 3:42 PM on January 22, 2006

I did lots of sports in high school. I still had to take gym class. I thought this was really stupid.
posted by elisabeth r at 3:45 PM on January 22, 2006

My school let you waive PE1 with 2 seasons of JV/Vasristy sports performance. I did, and still had to take Gym 2.
posted by kjell at 3:57 PM on January 22, 2006

It might be worth noting that when my football coach was my gym teacher, I still passed the class even though I skipped the class to smoke with friends in the park.
posted by Eamon at 3:59 PM on January 22, 2006

At my high school (private school) I was able to avoid PE with BAND, but I don't think athletics did it.
posted by furiousxgeorge at 4:00 PM on January 22, 2006

At my public high school in Michigan, 1 term of athletic participation or 2 terms of marching band satisfied the pe requirement. But most varsity athletes did pe anyway to have the extra time in the weight room and time with the coach (who was often one of the pe teachers.)
posted by k8t at 4:11 PM on January 22, 2006

I went to public high school in California and athletics (marching band as well) counted as PE for the first two years (two years of PE were required for all students), after that it was an elective. The athletics class still had to meet the state requirements for a Phys. Ed. class (e.g. run a timed mile once a month, test dexterity, etc.)

The running a timed mile requirement was hilarious when it was required of the special needs students. Once a month they would be zooming around the track in their power wheel chairs kicking up dust. I wonder if they ever improved their times?
posted by Mijo Bijo at 4:13 PM on January 22, 2006

At my high school, I believe athletes don't have to take PE. I think they have "athletics" at the end/beginning of the day; they do off season stuff in this class as well, but I don't know the details. I think it's the same class whatever sport you're involved in, but I don't actually know like any athletes. Marching band counts as a semester of PE though.
posted by MadamM at 4:24 PM on January 22, 2006

Currently at my kids' HS, extra curricular athletics is totally extra curricular. Athletes get no extra PE credits, and have to take PE like the rest of them. Band doesn't count toward PE. Athletes get out of class early sometimes, depending on how far they need to travel to their game, but are still responsible for the work. (PE is graded pass/fail)

When I was in HS (20+ years ago), the only way to get athletic participation even mentioned at graduation was to make All-League or better, or to earn 8 varsity letters in 4 years. 3 years of marching band could be substituted for the required year of gym.
posted by jlkr at 4:27 PM on January 22, 2006

At my high school, participating in drama productions was just about the only way to get around the requirement of playing a sport at least one season a year. At least that was the case for the boys; the girls didn't have any such requirement. That didn't get anyone out of physical education classes, though. Things have changed in the 13 years since I graduated, though. There's still a sports requirement, but drama production participation now counts for some sort of credit, as do music lessons and band participation.

I played basketball — horribly — in ninth grade. The three games I had to miss to perform in piano recitals were the three games my team won that season. I made that point every time the athletic director tried to chase me down and get me to go out for another sport (even though I participated in two drama productions a year beginning my sophomore year) but he never gave up.
posted by emelenjr at 4:34 PM on January 22, 2006

In my high school (I was class of '04, so this wasn't long ago), most athletes were about as important as gods come to earth. They still didn't receive academic credit for sports. They weren't exempt from gym, either, although since the head football coach was a gym teacher, it didn't really matter what they did as long as they changed for gym.

Where I went to school, it worked roughly like the drama club. Want to do it? Great. But you don't get credit for it, and you'll still be studying plays in English class.
posted by booksandlibretti at 4:34 PM on January 22, 2006

High school class of '99 in Texas. Athletics, dance team and band (yay for me!) counted as a PE credit for four semesters (two years.) I was on dance team for one year and colorguard for another to get out of PE. We got letter grades as well.
posted by youcancallmeal at 4:40 PM on January 22, 2006

In my school I was allowed to opt out of the gym requirement because I was participating in a sport outside of the school context. So it might be that those who were varsity athletes got to do the same, but I don't know. But there was no direct credit for the athletes. If they were exempted from gym, they'd have to make up those credits with an elective somewhere else.
posted by litlnemo at 4:44 PM on January 22, 2006

There are schools that I know of, in the greater Houston area specifically, that actually integrate athletics into the cirrculum. For example, all students in track have a "track class" for first period. They then have the rest of their classes for the rest of the day, and have another practice (though less rigorous) after school. The first period "track class" counts towards as their Phy Ed class.
posted by charmston at 5:02 PM on January 22, 2006

I ran track and cross country (badly) for a few years in HS at a public high school in SLC in the mid 80's. I got PE credit. My SR year I did weightlifting instead and got a D because I decided I wasn't going to write another 100 words on my essay on Oxygen Debt (yes, there was a writing requirement). I'm sure that FB, BB, swimmers, etc all got PE credits too.
posted by Good Brain at 5:18 PM on January 22, 2006

In my school (Baton Rouge Magnet High, in LA), PE counted for a letter grade and you had to take two years, regardless of extracurricular activity. But almost all the PEs were specialized--so I took Ballet one year, Aerobics another, and Yoga my senior year. So the gymnastics team was more or less those kids in gymnastics II or III; likewise with tennis, track, swimming, diving, etc.

However, it was a wacky magnet school with no normal sports teams, only "life sports". So we had tennis, track and field, golf, gymnastics, etc. as teams, but no baseball or football or hockey or basketball teams. In other words, no jocks.

The math club had the only cheerleaders in the school. No lie.
posted by fuzzbean at 6:46 PM on January 22, 2006

Yes, in 10th grade in British Columbia. Per the Ministry of Education:


External Sport Course Information
Students can obtain External Course credit for Sports in the following categories:
1. Athlete 10, Athlete 11, Athlete 12
2. Official 10, Official 11, Official 12
3. Coach 11, Coach 12

Details and Documentation
Students seeking credits for a sport course or program are required to present specific documentation as proof of participation or completion. The required documentation from the provincial sport organization, Team BC program and/or national sport federation includes official certificates and verification or congratulations letters.

External sport programs are administered and monitored by the Ministry of Small Business and Economic Development, Sport Branch. The provincial sport organizations, the Team BC Program, SportMedBC, Coaches Association of BC, Coaches Association of Canada and national sport organizations issue letters or certificates. All letters and certificates will include the student’s name and sport program.

Students who have reached high levels of performance in a particular sport not listed should encourage their provincial sport organization to contact the Sport Branch to gain information on how to apply for program inclusion in the upcoming year. The responsibility to meet qualification criteria rests with the provincial sport organizations.

Once a student has received credit for a particular level within the athlete, official or coach categories, he or she cannot receive additional credits for duplicate participation. For example, an athlete who has earned credits for Athlete 12 by being selected and competing on a provincial team cannot receive another 4 credits for Athlete 12 if he or she has progressed and been selected and competed on a national team. A student can only receive credit for Athlete 12 once. A student also cannot receive additional credit for the same category level if he or she has met the standards and criteria in more than one sport.


From http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/physicalactivity/
posted by acoutu at 7:24 PM on January 22, 2006

Thanks for the responses. As I expected, it varies with the school district/location.

I'm particularly interested in experiences in Missouri, if anyone happens to know...
posted by Brian James at 7:26 PM on January 22, 2006

In my school, Wheeling Central Catholic, WV, class of '94, we had 2 semesters of gym that were required and it was split across all four years so that you would take a 1/4 gym and 1/4 health each year by alternating days.

If you wanted to lift weights during gym class, you could and if you had a game that night you could opt out of gym class but as far as I can remember, no one ever did. Gym at my school was pretty fun, lots of good sports were played and the mandatory physcial fitness test stuff was kept to a minimum. The teacher was a good guy and everyone universally liked him. This wasn't the case for the girl's section of the class.

Oh and no credit for athletics participation.
posted by mmascolino at 7:37 PM on January 22, 2006

My high school gave physical education credit for "Competitive Athletics." It was the same credit that would've been given to me had I chosen normal P.E. classes over playing on the basketball team. Although normal P.E. was a single hour per day, and interscholastic athletics were a 2+ hour-per-day commitment -- your athletic "class" was both the last period of the day for you and the first hour of practice.
posted by frogan at 8:09 PM on January 22, 2006

Although I'm probably just adding onto the nostalgic stories that everyone else is providing...

I was on three varsity teams throughout my four-year high school academic career. I was captain of two of them. I also did marching band, which really ought to be grounds for P.E. credit (although I didn't have to carry the sousaphone).

I didn't get any credit for that at all. The only reason I didn't have to take P.E. was that I'd gotten it out of the way during summer school. Otherwise, I would have been in the same boat as everyone else, having to put on the white tee and run around the track.

Oh, and those three sports were track, soccer, and cross-country. If putting in 50ish miles per week, minimum, isn't grounds for exemption from P.E., then I don't know what is.

This was California, if that helps.
posted by dihutenosa at 8:19 PM on January 22, 2006

I went to high school in the Chicago area (Class of '91) and athletes (including cheerleaders and poms) didn't get academic credit for their sports, but they were allowed to get out of gym class completely or take a special weight training class in lieu of gym. (and the uniforms for that class were much, much cooler than our gym suits!) You could also get out of gym class if you were in ROTC. Everyone else had to take 3 years of gym (freshman and sophomore year you took 1 semester of gym class and 1 semester of health if you were a freshman or driver's ed if you were a sophomore), but my junior year I found out that people on the honors track (which I was) could also waive the gym requirement if they wanted to take another academic class or an elective (the honors track was the only one that didn't normally allow for electives).

Choir and band were academic classes with credit.
posted by SisterHavana at 8:21 AM on January 23, 2006