Capstone Experience

The State of CT has increased the number of required credits for graduation beginning with the Class of 2023.  Students graduating in or after 2023 are now required to complete 25 credits. One of these credits will be the GHS Capstone experience, which will meet the State’s Mastery-based Learning requirement.

Over the past few years, a committee of administrators, teachers and counselors have worked to create a Capstone Experience that will measure students’ progress toward meeting the Capacities of the Vision of the Graduate through a 4 year portfolio of work.  It was the belief of the committee tasked with designing this learning experience that students should not be limited in course choice because of this requirement or be burdened with additional work. As a result, this requirement will be met by collecting work students complete in courses in which they are already enrolled.

While the Vision of the Graduate capacities are embedded in all of the teaching and learning at GHS, each discipline, including the core academics and elective areas have taken ownership of one or two capacities.  Classroom teachers in selected courses, will guide students through Capstone activities and projects and assist them with uploading an artifact to their digital portfolio in Schoology. Teachers will also assess students on their progress towards approaching or meeting one of the designated 13 capacities, as defined by the common rubric used for each department.  Students will receive a score of 1 (does not meet), 2 (approaching expectations) and 3 (meeting expectations). Scores will be available for students and parents to see in Aspen. Any student receiving a 2 or below will work individually with teachers and counselors to demonstrate this capacity through another assignment. Once students have met expectations for all 13 capacities, they will be awarded 1 credit toward graduation.  

For detailed information about the GHS Capstone Experience, please refer to the Student/Parent Handbook (en español).