Article written by Tom Markland and published in The Journal on August 5, 2026, link to article HERE.
Berkeley County high school students enrolled in four of the county’s career and technical education programs will soon have a new way to earn required graduation credits after the Berkeley County Board of Education approved an embedded credit policy Monday.
The policy, adopted during the board's regular meeting, allows students in certain state-approved career and technical education (CTE) programs to earn senior English or senior math credit while completing their technical coursework, providing additional flexibility for the students in those programs.
School Counseling Coordinator Kevin Frankhauser told board members the state has identified specific CTE programs that contain enough academic content to satisfy certain graduation requirements.
Under the policy, students completing marketing management or pre-cosmetology may earn embedded senior English credit, while those enrolled in building maintenance and operations or industrial equipment maintenance may earn embedded senior math credit.
Frankhauser said any English or math standards not addressed through the technical programs will be completed through a supplemental virtual course to ensure students meet all state graduation requirements.
He said the additional flexibility comes at a time when students are facing more required coursework. Current juniors must now complete a personal finance course to graduate, while current eighth graders will be required to earn a computer science credit under updated state graduation standards.
"In theory, those are good subjects to have to graduate high school," Frankhauser said. "They also take up space in student schedules."
The district's newest CTE offerings, pre-cosmetology and industrial equipment maintenance, will both be eligible for embedded credit. Frankhauser noted that cosmetology programs require a significant number of instructional hours, making schedule flexibility particularly valuable for students pursuing those career pathways.
Board members sought reassurance that students earning embedded credit would still receive the academic preparation needed for college.
Frankhauser said students considering the option should discuss their plans with school counselors to determine whether embedded credit aligns with their postsecondary goals. He added that students would remain eligible for college admission.
Saxe emphasized that the embedded credits are based on careful alignment between academic standards and technical coursework rather than replacing traditional academics with vocational instruction.
For example, he said, the technical reading and writing components of cosmetology align with senior English standards, while the mathematics used in technical programs fulfills the requirements of Transition Mathematics, a senior-level course designed to reinforce concepts taught in Algebra I, Geometry and Algebra II.
The policy was approved unanimously by the board.