High School Course Selections

The time is here to choose your courses for next school year. Below is the timeline of activities to support families during this process. Though there will an opportunity to adjust course requests in the future, it is important that students be thoughtful and intentional in the course decisions they are making right now. Why?

• Choosing accurately during the initial choice window provides the highest likelihood of being placed in the classes you want.
• Staffing decisions for next school year are already underway. Teachers are hired based on the courses students have said they will be taking.
• Scheduling decisions are already in process. Our master schedule team works to build a schedule with the fewest scheduling conflicts based on the course selections that students submit RIGHT NOW!
• Course selections are a year-long commitment. There will not be changes to courses past the final change request deadline of March 12, 2026 at 4pm. (no semester change requests).

Several of our electives programs provided a brief videos to help give a little more insight into the content of their courses.

• Viper Band & Vision Dance Company
• Viper Dance Program (Dance/Dance Team Prep/Vision/Legacies)
• Journalism (Student Media)
• Principles of Agriculture
• Principles of Education & Training (Ready, Set, Teach!)
• Theatre/Musical Theatre/Technical Theatre
• A/V Production 1

January 13, 6p // Parent/Guardian Info Webinar // Presentation Slides // Presentation Recording

• counselors will provide a high school academic planning overview

• parents/guardians will learn about the course selection process and ask related questions

• parents/guardians may submit questions in advance

January 14 & 16 // Four-Year Planning & Course Selection Overview with VHS Counselors (2 days at each school)

• VHS counselors will visit Four Points and Canyon Ridge Middle Schools to provide a high school academic planning overview to 8th grade students

• students will create/edit their Four Year Plan in Naviance

• these choices will be used as the student's course requests for next school year

January 15 (in between planning days) // Viper Camp

• 8th grade students visit Vandegrift High School during the school day

January 22 // Viper Night

• students and families will have the opportunity to further explore course options

• Viper Night will include an elective fair, club & org fair, breakout sessions, and student panels

January 27-29 // 8th Grade Individual Student/Counselor Conferences (January 27-28 - CRMS // January 29 - FPMS)

• VHS counselors will meet individually with 8th grade students to review four-year plans

• plans will be submitted to lock in 9th grade courses (while there will be a change opportunity opening during the month of February, finalizing your requests during this submission provides the highest likelihood of being placed in the classes you want)

Mid-February // Course Verification Begins

• initial course requests will be visible in Home Access Center

• students will have the opportunity to request changes to their original selections; historically, there are already courses that are at capacity and no longer available for student choice; we strongly encourage students to lock in their top choices during counselor visits in January

March 12, 4p // Leander ISD FINAL Change Deadline for ALL COURSES

• no student/parent change requests will be honored after the window closes

• course selections are a year-long commitment - NO CHANGES TO ELECTIVE COURSES AT SEMESTER

On January 13 at 6:00 p.m. we invite all current 8th grade parents & guardians to a high school academic planning overview webinar to help you navigate your transition to Vandegrift High School.

VHS counselors will visit Four Points and Canyon Ridge Middle Schools to provide a high school academic planning overview to 8th grade students. During these presentations, students will submit tentative course requests. Students will be able to review their submissions with their parents/guardians and make adjustments prior to individual student meetings.

Vandegrift Counselors will meet with 8th grade students individually to review their course selections.

Canyon Ridge - January 27 & 28

Four Points - January 29

The VHS Counseling Team knows the transition to high school can at first seem overwhelming to students and families and we offer many resources to support. Please see the links below for additional information and helpful resources that answer the most frequently asked questions.

We are happy to answer questions via email, and we thank you in advance for your patience with our responses as we are supporting the social and emotional needs, academic planning, and post-secondary readiness of 400+ students each while also on-boarding our 500+ 8th grade students. Unfortunately, these large caseloads prevent us from having individual parent meetings with incoming 8th grade students.