Grades and Credit-Earning

At King High, students earn credits based on their active participation in classes, and by completing independent homework. King is flexible--students choose assignments to complete for homework, and turn in work on their own timelines. 

Credit-earning is based on amount of work completed and on quality of work. Grades are also based on quality of work, with the expectation that all grades earned at King will be passing grades. Work that is not of passing quality will be returned for revision until it meets a high enough standard to earn credits.

To successfully earn credits and receive good grades at King High School, students should live by the "3 P's" as describe in our Student Learner Outcomes.

Student Learner Outcomes


Our students will be Present, Positive, and Productive at school and in their personal, extracurricular, and post-high school lives.

  • Present: in their lives, as listeners, with open minds, clear heads
  • Positive: they are empathetic, compassionate, kind, hopeful, confident, and can think of something greater than themselves
  • Productive: they can learn; they want to continue learning; they can be critical thinkers; they can analyze information; they can apply what they learn to their own lives; they have academic and real-world skills; they are active in their education and their journey towards their goals; they are literate; they are creative; they have a solid foundation in math concepts; they are strong writers and readers; they have a plan for the future

Variable Credit Model


Credit-earning matters more than letter grades at King, so we’d like to briefly review the variable credit system. Students earn credits by being Present, Positive, and Productive at school each day, and by completing homework outside of school hours. Our goal is for all students to earn two credits per week.

Students can earn one credit per week by having perfect attendance and actively participating in all classes. The other credit comes from doing approximately three hours per day of homework or productive, credit-earning activities outside of school.

Each credit is made up of 15 units, and each unit is equal to approximately one hour of work time. We report credit-earning as a combination of full credits plus additional units. For example, a student who earns 37 units would receive a report of 2 credits + 7 units for that week.

For more information, visit the Credit Earning overview that is shared with new students and families each quarter.