Hi parents,
Need advice to understand what is the significance of credits earned in public high school that are then part of the high school transcript, versus credits earned for subjects taken outside public high school, privately and credits not included on high school transcript? Will a transcript from the private accredited school suffice for college admissions /weighted GPA calculation?
Here’s the situation:
DS suffered a concussion in 10th grade semester 1 and had to drop all Honors and APs. Now after 6 months he wants to catch up and study at his pace at a private independent study school on basic subjects such as Chemistry Honors and Spanish 3 Honors, which he had no choice than to drop last semester for medical reasons.
The question is does this course need to be approved for credit on high school transcript in order for colleges to take into account for weighted GPA? He is back in regular school for partial day with concurrent enrollment at public school district’s independent study school to catch up on semester 1 basic subjects. So he is currently not enrolled in any weighted subjects at his public school. Plus the school district has weird policies around not approving outside credits on high school transcript. I’m struggling with the school, having to beg them to approve outside course credits but its going no where. I wonder if it is necessary at all to have credits be part of official high school transcript. Will colleges not take private school transcript directly and use it for weighted GPA calculation?
Do you want these outside courses to count towards stofying HS graduation requirements as well? If so…I think you need to talk to your school about that.
If his high school does not use these credits to meet graduation requirements, and doesn’t list them on the high school transcript, that is OK. He will have to submit official copies of his records from both schools when he applies to college. What those places do to determine his overall GPA for admissions purposes is up to each of them. Some might only consider his regular school’s GPA. Some might re-calculate the overall GPA. Without contacting each place on his application list, you won’t have any way to know what they are likely to do.
Don’t worry about whether a grade will be weighted or not. Plenty of colleges and universities re-weight grades anyway. Worry about getting him healthy and through the coursework needed for graduation.
Nothing weird about it. It is pretty standard. Unless you are in a course/school approved by your school anything taken outside of your school will not go on your school’s high school transcript.
@sybbie719, our school district’s policy is to not approve any courses from outside school district, which is not typical as we know that other districts in neighboring counties do approve courses on the basis of dual enrollment. So anything he takes outside school will not go onto his high school transcript, it may only count towards meeting pre-requisites for higher level courses.
Duel enrollment usually means a course that is a college/high school course…not another high school course.
Some schools do allow online courses. But they have to be approved.
In my state, a student would have difficulty getting high school courses from another high school added to their resident high school transcript. It just would not happen.
But a college course in conjunction with the HS…to satisfy the HS graduation requirement would be.
Your son had a health issue. Did he have a health plan for educational purposes while he was recuperating? Does he have a 504or health plan now that he had started school again? If he has a plan…contact your case manager and discuss this with them.
You can definitely take AP courses online, but they can be pricey. Your HS should have a policy on how they incorporate them, you do get a grade from the online course. They are also more standardized so easier to compare to HS courses.
What you want to do would not be considered dual enrollment. I know in NYS, even with online courses, they have to be done by a vendor approved by your school district (in my case, it would be the NYC DOE approved vendor. Even then, the course would have to be overseen by a teacher from our school who is licensed in the subject area in order for a student to receive credit).
What you did is go out on your own, register your child for a class and now you want your school district to give your child credit for the course. It does not work that way.
@sybbie719 and all,
We have not yet registered for the outside school course. All your inputs are hence very valuable. Thank you.
He had started Sophomore year with a few weighted courses in Fall before his concussion and then had to drop them all. Now he wants to be able to catch up and finish at least one of them (Chemistry), since it is a pre-requisite for others he wanted to do in high school. I know, we ought to focus on him getting back to health. But what does that mean, when it comes to a traumatic brain injury? There is no telling whether or not there will be full recovery, although neurologists say he will recover. He is a Gifted and Talented Student, but now faces brain fatigues and headaches if he studies/deep thinks/analyzes without a break. Everything needs to be paced and he needs to study at his pace, now and for rest of high school.Plus he cannot rest it out on hard subjects either, just because they trigger symptoms. He needs to study up and build brain stamina little by little at his pace. Full-time enrollment at a regular high school may hence not work for him in the next year at least and he will need to rely on private independent study ($$$) courses so that he can study the difficult subjects at his pace, in a least stimulating environment. At the same time, he needs to be in school environment for social and emotional well being. Hence we figured a hybrid approach is necessary. The school district revamped their policies for 2018-2019 school year onwards, since his concussion happened at school and I think they realized the need for studying higher level courses (not offered within public school district’s independent study school), at the student’s pace. So they are approving up to 40credits taken at a WASC accredited institution, on UC approved a-g courses, be they online or in-person private school (off-campus). This is great news and will help students like my son going forward. But for the current year, we are struggling to understand best way to proceed.
@thumper1, yes we got a 504 plan defined in late January this year after a lot of struggle and it has been a boon, without which he couldn’t make it through partial day (4 periods) at regular high school. His teachers are the same as before his concussion. They are super nice, understanding and accommodating, and value his high achievement prior to concussion. We did not have a health plan, though the district was trying to start one and did not give us information on what it was about, so I don’t know what it would have provided. Then they dropped it and didn’t go that route. We do not have a case manager, so our counselor is our only resource and most often that not, I have not got any answers from that route. That is probably because the school is learning from my son’s experience as they go! By mid December he started at the district’s independent study alternative high school and caught up on World History and PE for semester 1. He remains concurrently enrolled there alongside regular high school and working independently on English 10 semester 1. They are asking that he add another elective subject (World Geography) to make it a true concurrent enrollment. They did not accept taking the AP Human Geography credits done in summer school previously. On that same account I am thinking they will not accept Chemistry either and hence wanted to know if there was any use in trying to get it done outside school district.
He can always wait it out this year, take it slow, do it in the next two years at high school and try not to think of his setbacks due to not proving rigor etc. Ours is an extremely competitive high school, with the highest number of APs taken by students in the entire State and only 6th highest in the country. It is a College Board AP Honors school. Hence the peer pressure is tremendous and I’m not sure College admissions folks will realize why he couldn’t do a similar rigor. Plus he needs to do things that allow him to regain confidence. These are my considerations.
Every student with a 504 Plan has a case manager. It is required. Look on your 504 form…that person should be clearly listed on the form.
If you have a 504, you no longer need a health plan assuming the 504 addresses the necessary health related accommodations for your kiddo.
The school absolutely should be working with you to help your son graduate.
I think you need to talk to your medical professionals about this as well. Healing from a TBI is a process…and you really can’t push it. It just might be that advanced courses are not in the cards NOW.
Your son’s health is far more important than completing any advanced level courses.
@thumper1, I will look into his 504 document. It was signed in front of the counselor and assistant principal. The district nurse spoke to our neurologist and all his teachers provided inputs. I didn’t come across a case manager. I’ll ask our assistant principal about it if I can’t find that info on the 504 document. Yes the plan addresses some health related accommodations. We have our next doctor’s appointment on Wednesday and will be checking with her too. You may be right, he probably just needs to take things easy for now. Thank you for the inputs.
Also, remember that he is not obligated to graduate in two more years. Given his TBI, and the need to take things at a slower pace, it may make good sense to push graduation back. That would be pretty standard for a special ed student with an IEP. I don’t know the steps for arranging that with a 504.
@happymomof1, thank you very much for this information, I did not know this was possible. I tried very hard to request for a gap year or medical leave of absence from current year and I was told it is not allowed. Checked with CA Dept of Edu on it too, and they said there is no provision for medical leave. Only on very rare (1% of district) cases, a student could take LoA for travel/intern/family reasons but not medical. I’ve been so frustrated about this!
Perhaps 504 changes that. I will check on it. The standard process is to be sent to Adult school if one did not complete high school graduation requirements by 18 yrs of age.
In most states, students who enroll in the public high school before they turn 18 are allowed to remain in high school until they complete graduation requirements or until the end of the school year in which they turn 21. This is very common for students in special ed and for immigrant students - especially refugees with disrupted educations. One caveat is that only minimum graduation requirements need to be met. Students don’t automatically get more time in order to fit in honors classes.
Each state sets its own policies, so if your state has a strong network of adult schools, and routinely sends everyone there the minute they turn 18, then it might be a tough sell to get an exemption so that your kid can finish up at a regular high school. Do investigate the adult school structure. In some states these are full-on high schools that offer standard graduation requirements (again, probably no honors options), in others they offer few physical classes but include portfolio evaluation systems that allow students to demonstrate equivalent knowledge for a few classes that they missed along with coordinating credit for online classes, and in still others they just offer GED exam prep. I teach Adult Basic Education and GED prep for a school district that offers only that option for students who didn’t finidh high school. I do not recommend it at all for students like your son who are almost half-way done. If he can find a way to complete a true high school education (even withiut honors sections) he will have a much more thorough grounding in the subject areas, and he will have a happier social life.
I should’ve said:
The standard process is to be sent to Adult school if one did not complete high school graduation requirements by the end of school year in which the student turns 18 yrs of age.
Every school district here, local to us, has an associated Adult education school. But also it is not preferable to go there. I can imagine that they would barely be providing anything and like the alternative independent study school within district, this school would also be yet another check mark item. The good news is that my son is determined to complete high school on schedule with the class of 2020, perhaps without honors/APs, his English teacher has talked to him into it too. I think it is doable, we will see.
OP- hugs. This is a challenging situation and I hope your son continues to mend every day.
If it were me- I’d start de-emphasizing the importance of AP’s, advanced level courses, “getting back on track” or any other messaging of that ilk.
College will always be there. I know it’s hard to think that way if your son is at a competitive HS where the top kids just sail away in a little boat from HS off to college without missing a beat- but trust me- college isn’t going away.
Focus on your son’s recovery, on his ability to make it through the school day without experiencing exhaustion or headaches or whatever other symptoms he’s had. If he’s not ready to apply to college his senior year- then great, he’ll get a job or do volunteer work and continue to recover. If he is ready to apply- great. Find a college which will meet your son’s learning needs at that moment- and if he needs something more challenging after a year there where he’s blown the cover off the ball- he can transfer.
I’d be exhausted if I were managing a kid’s recovery, plus doing battle with the school system and the bureaucracy, plus worrying about AP classes and college admissions. Focus on your son. If the district is mostly uncooperative about giving credits on the transcript for the outside stuff your son has done- might do-wants to do- well, is it really worth fighting that fight?
And it goes without saying- make sure your son gets an eye exam if he hasn’t had one recently. And since he’s seeing the neuro this week- ask about a thyroid check? Just get your ducks in a row in case there are other (easy to correct) things going on which have slowed down your son’s recovery.
If it starts to look like adult school is an option, some questions to ask include:
Who issues the eventual diploma? (in some places it is the original high school or another local high school, in some places it is the school districts, and in some cases it is the state board of education). Some students really care about this, others don’t.
What classes are offered at the adult school? If he will only be one or two classes short, can he plan his regular school year to take things he’s really interested in, and then just pick up the leftovers in adult school?
Are there any classes he doesn’t need to take if he is going to get the adult diploma? For example, some states won’t require phys ed.
@blossom, big hugs back to you, I was so overwhelmed to read your message. Thank you so much from my family, for all the empathy. You wrote to us like family and brought tears to my eyes. Much love to you. All your inputs are well taken.
We followed up with the doctor yesterday and the advice was to start learning science and math subjects little by little, pacing them as much as he can tolerate just so the channels in the brain open up or get exercised in order to restart working optimally. This may lead to worsening of symptoms or let us understand where he stands now. She expects him to recover from the lingering symptoms over time as he continues to do physical therapy, take supplements, and sleeps a lot or as much as he needs to and does not push himself too hard with anything. So we are going to self-study at first to see how he does, before starting any new courses.
We so very much appreciate your suggested plan for him. Hugs! We are definitely thinking similarly. Thanks again.
Hi @happymomof1,
thank you for the insights on adult school, I’ll definitely research on those as we go. It makes sense to push out electives required for graduation until later and to focus now on finishing core subjects in high school. The key next step for him is to check-in with himself to see where he stands with learning core science and math subjects. He’s been avoiding them, afraid of worsening symptoms because that’s what happened every time he had tried them in the past. But his doctor says he’s much recovered now than before when he faced severe symptoms and so would be able to do more. We are going to start over the weekend and see how it goes. Thanks again for all the inputs.
A friend went through this with a soccer concussion, she spent most of the fall semester on homebound school. She was able to graduate with her class. She chose to stay home at community college her first year, because of reoccuring issues. Smaller classes, fewer courses in the fall and did well. In the spring she took 15 hours and then started at a university this year.
There are lots of online options for when he is ready, but there should be a homebound option also. You may have to get the school social worker involved.
You cannot control his recovery, you cannot control his stress, but you can assure him that if he follows the doctors orders he has a great future in front of him.