Parents do not want to disrupt their child’s high school education, especially if they do well academically. However, transferring from one high school to another is not all that surprising. In some circumstances, transferring your high schooler is necessary and is even beneficial for your child’s education. This change may be because of a job opportunity, a change in financial circumstance, family issues, and a search for a better academic environment for the child. Every parent wants their students to have the best high school education to get if they want them to be accepted to their chosen college programs or schools.
Enrolling and transferring into an online school involves a process that requires the parents to do various tasks, and these tasks may not be exactly easy. They need to work together with their local education officers. Sometimes, there needs to be consultation with a state education official. Consultations like this are especially important in transferring to the chosen online school and ensuring that the subjects that the student already took in his or her previous school will be credited. It is also one thing that a parent should consider before enrolling their child into an online school.
IS IT EASY TO TRANSFER CREDITS?
Transferring credits from the student’s previous coursework is not as hard and troublesome as transferring credits from one college to another. However, it can be a challenge to meet specific prerequisites to take advanced courses or follow through the order in which to take them.
For example, the order of taking Chemistry, Physics, and Biology varies from school to school. If transferring involves moving into a high school in another state, parents may have to meet specific requirements. There is also the issue with district set graduation requirements. For example, states like Pennsylvania, Colorado, and Massachusetts follow district set graduation requirements.
State policies also apply. California and Washington require three years of 9-12 English. On the other hand, the other 48 states require four. Social Studies students in Illinois and Connecticut must complete two. Students in New York are required to complete four.
Despite the issues surrounding credit transfers, they also have advantages. If a course is credited, students won’t have to enroll in the same courses again. When applied as credits toward program completion, students can graduate quickly. However, there is a possibility that the student may need to take one or two courses again, especially if the student failed those courses or received an incomplete mark. The determination of whether a course taken from one school may be credit will depend on the transcript review team. Usually, it is easier to transfer from a traditional high school to an online high school as long as the previous school is an accredited school.
WHAT IS THE USUAL PROCESS OF TRANSFERRING CREDITS?
Different schools have different credit transfer policies in place. Each school determines the courses that may be credited. During this process, there is no guarantee that the online school will accept all previously earned credits. However, when both schools are both regionally accredited, courses are generally transferrable without any issues.
As for students who are homeschooled, there is difficulty in setting a guideline. If they come from an accredited institution, it will be easy. There are also particular rules regarding students with course credit from non-accredited homeschool programs not affiliated with a homeschool association. The school uses validated methods that may determine that some credits may be transferred.
For religious schools, there is an issue of crediting religious courses. Usually, the parents want the chosen school to credit them, but these courses are hard to credit if they transfer to a secular institution.
HOW DOES CREDITING USUALLY WORK?
High schools mandate the submission of necessary documents. Almost all of the schools request the student’s transcript of records from the previous schools they attended.
Transcripts are school records that are used when a student wishes to transfer from one school to another. It includes a record of the student’s course work. It has the student’s personal information, grade point average, and other identification information.
For students who are homeschooled, a transcript or its equivalent is needed. The transcripts will determine what courses will be credited and the remaining requirements for graduation. It is used in planning the student’s course of study. Each school has their respective team just for this. The review will vary depending on the graduation requirements the school follows.
The crediting system is not different between traditional high schools and online high schools. Transferring credits from one online school to another involves a similar process. The new school will ask for a transcript of the student. Their assigned reviewer will determine what requirements the student already met based on those documents.
THE CREDITING SYSTEM
The way that course credits are counted is dependent on the system that the school follows. State rules must apply as well.
Some schools use the five-credit and ten-credit system. The most common crediting system, however, is one credit for every one-year course.
Some schools use block scheduling. In a block-scheduling situation, a student takes only one course at a time during a three- to four-week period. This means that they must attend four to five classes during a semester one at a time and not simultaneously. After one subject, they will proceed to another. The notable benefits of this system are flexibility and focus.