Madison City Schools 2026-2027 Course Offerings

Dr. Heather Donaldson

Chief Academic Officer

Madison City Schools

At the February 5th Board of Education meeting, the 2026-2027 middle and high school course offerings were approved. 

Madison City Schools (MCS) revises the course offerings annually making changes to our existing courses, adding courses, or removing courses to ensure that we offer a viable curriculum, innovative programs, and experiences that provide the greatest opportunities for our students to excel. Revising the curriculum catalog is a tremendous team effort and involves several staff members from the district and school level.

There are a few changes to the middle school offerings for 2026-2027. A Technical Theatre course will be added to both Journey Middle School and Liberty Middle School. This course is already taught at Discovery Middle School. Project Lead the Way (PLTW) Green Architecture is transitioning to PLTW Building for the Future. PLTW is transitioning to Building for the Future, which will focus on the same content from Green Architecture, but it will include exploration in architecture, civil engineering, carpentry, plumbing, and HVAC. There will be a few changes in middle school course fees. The fee for CodeSpace is being removed because the course does not require consumables. The fee for Automation and Robotics is being reduced from $25 to $10. A $10 fee will be added to Computer Science for Innovators and Makers due to the consumables required for the class.

There are a few exciting changes for high school offerings that include adding Child Development to our Family Studies and Community Services Career Tech Academy. We will also be adding 3D Solid Modeling II to our Additive Manufacturing Career Tech Academy. This will be the third course in our Additive Manufacturing program. The final new course for high school includes the addition of AP Business and Personal Finance. According to the ALSDE, this course can run through the Business, Finance, Marketing, Culinary, and Fashion Career Tech Academies, which makes it a very versatile class for many students.

We have several courses to add to our dual enrollment list of approved courses. All of these courses are on the 4.0 GPA scale. These courses are recommended for the 4.0 GPA scale, following Board policy, because the course content is the equivalent of Advanced Placement (AP) or below the AP level. These courses are cross-walked by the district instruction team and high school teachers. We are also proposing to add Alabama A&M University as a dual enrollment partner starting in the 2026-2027 school year.

Additional important pieces include graduation requirements outlined by the state department and a new diploma option.

The ALSDE has added three new graduation requirements. The first is the Financial Literacy Exam starting with the current 10th grade cohort (Class of 2028). Students take the Financial Literacy Exam during the state-required Career Prep course.

The second state requirement goes into effect with the current 6th grade class. The Class of 2032 and beyond will be required to complete a computer science course from a state-approved list. This will become a graduation requirement for the Class of 2032 and beyond. 

The third ALSDE requirement involves College and Career Readiness (CCR). Starting with the current 12th grade cohort (Class of 2026), students must earn CCR status in order to graduate. Students can become College and Career Ready through any of the approved ALSDE indicators listed in the graphic below.

The district and high school teams have been working diligently to ensure students are College and Career Ready to meet the graduation requirement. The highest number of our students earn CCR status through a Silver score on the WorkKeys, so we have started testing our students well before the state-required senior year WorkKeys assessment. This year, our 9th grade students will attempt the WorkKeys in April when juniors take the state required ACT assessment. Any students who earn a Silver certificate on that WorkKeys administration will meet the CCR requirement. A significant number of students earn CCR through Career Tech industry credentials. We currently offer over 20 credentials through our Career Tech Academies some of which include EKG Technician, NCCER Core, OSHA 30, Certified Patient Care Technician, and Certified Pharmacy Technician. To help our students prepare for the ACT, we provide all high school students with access to the CERT program which is an online, individualized ACT prep program. This year, we are also offering an ACT bootcamp to all 11th grade students. For our current seniors who have not earned CCR status yet, we are partnering with Calhoun Community College to offer a 1.0 credit hour Workplace Skills Course. It is facilitated by our Career Coaches. Successful completion of this course will result in 1.0 college credit hour for students which will help them earn CCR status.

The ALSDE added another diploma option that will go into effect for the 2025-2026 school year: Option B - Workforce Pathway.

The new diploma option (Option B / Workforce Pathway) decreases the math and science required credits from 4 each to 2 each. 

It is important to note that the new workforce pathway option may not meet college admissions requirements or NCAA eligibility requirements. It is important for students to verify admissions and eligibility requirements before choosing diploma option 2. 

Information about course registration will be shared by middle and high schools in the coming weeks. 

We are excited about the opportunities that await our students in the 2026-2027 school year!!!