It sounds like your kid took ZERO foreign language courses in high school. Right?
They offered Spanish, right? Many colleges will expect that he should have taken up through level 3 or 4 in high school….not a placement test to test out.
But there are some less selective colleges that won’t care. And at some places, he will be expected to take a foreign language in college since he didn’t do so in high school.
I have to agree with the parent, that they can’t just jump into the high school Spanish and assume that the child will remember some of the written language prompts.
My children were encouraged to take AP Spanish in high school. (I’m a native speaker. I even took courses in college to “up my game” in written language which, at the time, I didn’t know it would be really necessary in my career.)
At my children’s high school, they had to complete summer assignments to get into the competitive AP classes.
One of those classes was AP Spanish. When I saw the summer assignments, I told them “no”.
Why?
Because I saw myself having to read those novels along with them, so that I could understand the assignment. I didn’t have that kind of time.
I was working full-time.
The summer assignment was ridiculously hard. They were to read and choose from Spanish novels, authored by the original Spanish writers, and complete “compare and contrast” assignments.
I really didn’t have time to help them which I knew I would be stuck doing with them.
I knew they were sharp enough that they would eventually get it. But some of the prompts that I saw, were not my regional Spanish and I was very unfamiliar with the number of South American authors as well as Spanish authors who were listed in the assignment.
My take on this situation is that the OP’s son probably learned some basic grammar, vocabulary and conversational skills.
I really don’t think that throwing a kid into a Spanish class, when he hasn’t been practicing Spanish for at least four years, is beneficial to the student. The family needs to find an equivalent course, somewhere, that can cover the high school/college requirement if they’re that desperate to get into top schools that require foreign language.
My children took Spanish in seventh and eighth grades also but they made sure they reached level four in high school.
Some of their HS assignments were really hard. When they did ask for help I had to ask my mother (their grandmother!), who was also challenged by the academic intensity. She ended up asking her brother, who is a professor in Mexico, for help. The info finally got back to my eldest kid. Turns out she was the only kid who got it right, but it had to go through three people who supposedly speak Spanish well!
I wish the family luck because this isn’t an easy situation and it’s really a little late in the game to figure out that they may be lacking a requirement for one of their schools. I agree look at the CDS data and see if the school that the child wants requires foreign language.
But to what level? Taking two or three years to level 4 or AP level may be accepted by some colleges that prefer to see “four years”.
Okay…the guidance counselor was extremely helpful. Apparently, since the school is a qualified CTE school, it is exempt from NYS language requirements beyond the minimum one year. When they send the school profile to colleges it includes the course catalog and description which shows the exemption. The kids schedules are so jam packed meeting the CTE PLUS Regents requirements there is no room for foreign language. They only offer one year of Spanish to meet the state minimum anyway (I didn’t know this part). The guidance counselor said this has never been an obstacle for even T20 schools. Phew!
@sybbie719 Do you have experience/insights with this situation and outcomes for the students at selective schools?
What proportion of students from your S’s HS go to college?
Mostly two years of Spanish taken in 7th and 8th grade as high school credit, fulfilling graduation requirement.
According to the school, 97%.
Actually if the student is in middle school they took the Spanish language proficiency exam. Student would get high school credit for one year of foreign language
If you are in NYC I would recommend looking up the NYC DOE middle school academic policy - acceleration
Or you can look up NYSED Part 100.5 for high school graduation requirements
Students inNYC can no longer receive high school credit for courses taken in 7th grade
Is there a pathway for students who do not want to take the CTE and get a traditional advanced regents diploma or a regents with a seal of bilatercy
Good question, do you know @tjd0829?
My son is getting both the advanced regents diploma and the CTE diploma.
What exactly does this 97% mean. If you are in NYC and very school is evaluated on submitting a CUNY application ( since every student will ultimately get accepted to CUNY this can yield a 100% college acceptance rate). October is free SUNY application month when again all students are encouraged to apply to SUNY
While CUNY and SUNY will be test blind next year, regents are back on the table and waivers are gone with the exception of SWD waivers and waivers for a 60-64
You can go to www.data.nysed.gov
To see how your school fares at the state level.
Yes, but this student has taken zero foreign language in HS which is a far different thing.
So your son is using CTE courses to fulfill his advanced regents diploma requirements instead of the three years of foreign language to fulfill the advanced regents diploma (traditional pathway)
Have you had an opportunity to read the school profile that is sent out to colleges
Did your school offer a traditional option for students who did not want CTE?
How is the college acceptance and schools for CTE diploma recipients and straight academics- 3 years foreign language, AP , dual enrollment ?
These are the requirements for an advanced regents diploma and according to his school he has met all of them (yes, he has taken all of these exams):
Very familiar with regents advanced regents requirement (20 years DOE former school counselor/ student pathways post secondary planning )
In order to get credit for the LOTE for advanced regents diploma he must have 3 year- ( 6 credits if he attends school on a semester system of foreign language). The SLP is a middle school exam and not a regents (LOTE). Your son cannot get credit for the LOTE for an advanced regents diploma with our 3 years of foreign language
Please google NYCDOE academic policy High school for diploma breakdown.
Are you saying he has his foreign language credits and has met the CTE requirements.
I only know that both his guidance counselor and the college counselor said that he qualifies.
I did just review it (side note, I work for NYCPS Central) and he qualifies for the 4+1 Pathway.
Yes, students can earn an Advanced Regents diploma with the 4+1 pathway in New York State. The 4+1 pathway assessment is one of the requirements for students to graduate with an approved pathway. To earn an Advanced Regents diploma, students must also:
DS has two credits of world languages on his transcript based on the qualifying exam.
You state your son will fulfill his CTE requirements. He can get an advanced regents diploma with the CTE requirement
However this does not negate the fact that he does not have 3 years foreign language. You will have to look at the recommended course work at the school where your child is considering submitting application
It may be hard climb for a school that recommends he has 3 years of foreign language when he does not.
The that he got in middle school fulfills his graduation requirement for foreign language.
Who is your school college now partner? Is taking language through college now an option.