Illinois Graduation Requirements

• 4 years of language arts;
• 2 years of writing-intensive courses, one year of which must be offered as an English language arts course and may be counted toward meeting one year of the four-year English language arts requirement. The writing courses may be counted toward the fulfillment of other state graduation requirements, when applicable, if writing-intensive content is provided in a subject area other than English language arts;

• 3 years of mathematics, one of which must be Algebra 1 and one of which must include geometry content;

• 2 years of science;

• 2 years of social studies, of which at least one year must be the history of the United States or a combination of the history of the United States and American government; and

• 1 year chosen from any of the following: o art; o music; o foreign language, which shall include American Sign Language; and o vocational education. Additionally, starting with students entering grade 9 in the 2016-17 school year and thereafter, at least one semester of civics coursework will be required.