Academics

ACADEMIC EXPECTATIONS

Dallas Lutheran School students are challenged and encouraged to do their best with their God-given talents through a full curriculum and instructors that help students to learn. All students at DLS must be able and willing to do the following to be successful students at Dallas Lutheran School.

  • Maintain an organized notebook system for all classes
  • Read and take notes from appropriate textbook material as selected by the instructor
  • Read a Book A Month (fiction, biography, non-fiction) for English class (or, if no English class, for an assigned instructor)
  • Write an essay of 350-500 words minimum for each semester class
  • Utilize keyboarding skills as required by individual teachers
  • Prepare short research reports/essays (350+ words minimum) for each semester class
  • Learn approximately 200 or more vocabulary words for each semester class
  • Take written exams within a specified time frame
  • Concentrate and participate appropriately during class and take notes

EDUCATION IS A PRIORITY 

Dallas Lutheran is a college-preparatory school. We believe that education comes first. Athletics, extra-curricular activities and social opportunities are all available to help provide a rich and well-rounded school experience, but DLS focuses on prioritizing academics with emphasis on solid work habits, critical thinking skills, and good study skills. Dallas Lutheran School graduates have been accepted into almost every major college and university.

BOOK A MONTH PROGRAM

Dallas Lutheran has Book-A-Month program designed to raise vocabulary skills, thus also raising student verbal ability and SAT verbal scores.

AP CLASSES AND WEIGHTING OF AP GRADES

Students may be allowed to receive AP designation in certain select classes at DLS. Calculus is one place where students can receive AP credit. Students receive a weighted grade and will be ready to take the AP exam if they so choose.

Students in literature electives such as Shakespeare, Novels, Short Fiction, and Mythology can also receive AP credit. Students seeking AP designation should let the instructor know at the beginning of the semester that he/she wishes to be an AP student. The teacher will then provide the student with additional reading requirements that are not a part of the regular syllabus. The student will be expected to write an essay and/or an exam on the extra "AP" book assigned. Any given elective literature class, therefore, may include AP as well as regular students mixed together.

AP Course Inflation Agreement  Feb 20, 2004*

  • We agree: AP teachers do their own strategy for assessment in their own course, but all DLS AP students will get a uniform 6 point bump (on their semester grade) that is applied to only to the GPA (not to the course grade).
  • Eg; Student X gets 87 in World History (not AP) that goes on the transcript as a 87. Student Y gets a 87 in AP World History and that goes on the transcript as 87 and that is calculated as 93 when it goes into the GPA. However, the 6 point bump cannot take a grade above 100. An AP grade of 97 is factored as a 100.

AP EXAMS AND COLLEGE CREDIT

Students also have the option to take AP exams at DLS each spring. These can be regular students or students who are enrolled in AP credit classes. Students who score high enough on AP tests are given college credit in those areas and allowed to waive certain freshman courses in college. We have had a number of students test out of Freshman English by taking the English Literature AP test. AP tests, however, are available in all curriculum areas: languages, sciences, math, and the social sciences. The cost of taking this test is about $80.00. Students who are interested in taking this test should see their content area teacher and the AP coordinator at Dallas Lutheran School.