9th Grade BEC Program Frequently Asked Questions
What are the synchronous time commitments and weekly due dates?
The Wednesday meetings from 10-11:30am are required. Although it is allowable to occasionally miss with prior notice to your advisory teacher, content must be made up at a later date. Each Monday and Tuesday, students have one online assignment due, while the majority of each week’s work is due on Friday or Sunday at 11:59pm.
Can my 14 Year Old attend college campus?
Depends on the school you are looking at. The landscape of age requirements for each of the Oregon Community College’s is quite dynamic and always changing. Some allow 14 and 15 year olds into on-campus courses, others do not. If this is the case with your local CC, we encourage you to start with an online Oregon CC that provides online course offerings that you and your advisor think is the best match until you meet the age requirements of your local school. Certain schools allow under 16 year olds to attend if a parent is on campus or nearby.
What electives can I take?
We have designed the year’s schedule to maximize progress towards high school degree completion and acquiring college credit; electives aren’t our specialty or focus. Starting in 10th grade, students have a much wider selection of electives to choose from at their college of choice; and the colleges do a much better job of providing interesting and expertly taught electives with a more robust infrastructure and budget to support the experience.
We need to be gone for a week, is that ok?
Yes, if you have a family vacation, sporting event, or illness you can be absent for a week, however the work will have to be made either before the absence, or after your return. We highly encourage you to communicate with your instructors as early as possible.
Can we switch courses outside of the set curriculum?
We encourage students to stay with the curriculum that we have selected as it will move you towards high school diploma completion as expediently as possible if you are going to early college full time starting in 10th grade year. Each course we have in the 9th grade year was purposefully selected and designed to either teach skills, fulfill a prerequisite, or satisfy a HS diploma requirement that is tricky or cumbersome to fulfill at the college level. Very few options outside of this integrate well, and result in frustration, inefficient progression and lost credit.
Will this HS credit transfer back to another HS in Oregon?
Yes, credit earned while at BEC is fully accredited and transfers to most schools in the state of Oregon
Do I Need a District Release?
No, BEC is an in person school as the majority of our students attend in person on college campuses around the state, and therefore don’t need their local district’s release.
Is the coursework online?
Yes, as we are serving a wide range of students from all over the state before they embark on their educational journey at their local community college in 10th grade, we have all of the 9th grade coursework accessible online. This allows flexibility to travel and be anywhere in the state while being in the 9th grade cohort program.
