Length of time in high school

[Night Elf]

Don't transcripts have the dates that courses are taken? Would they notice if there are 5 years between the first and last classes? My ds15 has Aspergers and doesn't work as quickly as kids in public school. Plus, the online program he uses only requires 21 credits to graduate. I'm interested in him earning more credits. Does it look bad for a high school student to take classes for 5 years if his GPA remains high? He's finishing his sopmore year and has a 4.0 gpa so far.

[Lori D.]

It's probably best to start checking at the various colleges that DS may attend to find out what their policies are for students with special needs -- what they are willing to accept, and how they want to see it on the transcript. Some may even have a special form to also fill out and return with the transcript.

 

You will also want to have an official "paper trail" (medical diagnoses, test results from an official special needs teacher/counselor, etc.) to document that your DS has a bonafide special need to justify the extra year due to slower working speed. And of course, note the special need on the transcript and have copies of all that paperwork to be ready to send along with the transcript if required.

 

 

BEST of luck! Warmly, Lori D.

 

 

ETA: And if you don't want to include the special needs info, or don't want to go this route, then you may have to track this as an extra year of 8th grade, and 4 years of high school. In that case, on the transcript you include only the few courses typically permitted by the state to be "brought up" from 8th grade (usually things like Algebra, Biology, or Foreign Language), mark them as completed in 8th grade but done at high school level, and do not include the grades in the GPA.

 

I just noticed in your signature you list your DS as participating in Keystone -- I would think they would either have a policy on how to do the transcript, and have past experience with other students in similar situations, and can explain what you'll need to do.

Edited May 14, 2012 by Lori D.

[Kareni]

Some college applications such as the Common Application ask for applicants to list only classes taken in the current school year as well as the three previous years.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Night Elf]

Thanks ladies. Keystone's transcripts organize classes by category on the left side. They put all the math classes together, then english, etc. Next to them they include the numerical grade, credits earned, and completion date. They don't show school years like 9th, 10th, etc., so at first glance you can't really tell how many years were spent in high school.

 

I just feel like having more than 21 credits will look better but there is no way he's going to be able to do that in 4 years. I'll also look to see if I can find anything about special needs. I'm not sure how I would go about documenting it though. I can get the medical diagnosis from his psych. doctor, but Kaiser doesn't have resources for academic testing. I was told to talk to my county, but the last time I tried getting help from them, they weren't cooperative at all. I didn't really know what I was doing so I just dropped it.

 

I love the idea of him attending a 4-yr. college but he might be better off if he starts in a 2-yr. college. The one he would attend doesn't even require an SAT score unless the student is still in high school and trying to dual enroll.

[Susan C.]

I would be tempted to take a few classes from the first year (we are allowed to take 2 high school classes in 8th grade for high school credit and one from 7th grade), call that year 8th grade, then do each grade after that. So the five years would be grades 8-12.