hsbeth Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 The recent changes this year have me a bit confused. Those of you with high school students, are you planning to do only the minimum annual reporting or are you going to continue to report monthly? I've got one dd who currently holds a permit and will test for her DL this year and another child who will be eligible for her permit in December. I'm slightly concerned that there will be snags with this new reporting system. How will DDS keep tabs on attendance if reporting is only done annually? Thoughts? Also, I was unaware until this week that the requirement for the Accel program (dual enrollment) had been changed. The definition of eligible student/school has been broadened to allow students in non-accredited programs to participate and receive funding equal to those in other settings. Apparently this changed happened back in May. We were set up to participate in dual enrollment via an accredited umbrella program, but I'm now re-thinking that. During my research this weekend I also noticed that most colleges and universities have not updated their information about dual enrollment and accel to explain these changes. I did confirm via phone on Friday that our local uni. is aware of the guideline changes and that home school students who are unaffiliated will be welcome and should be able to access Accel funding via the paper application. Also, that it was not too late to make such a change for the fall semester although classes start today. Another noteworthy change to Accel is that hours funded will no longer be deducted from the available Hope hours as of spring 2102 semester. This makes dual enrollment an even better deal! Thought I'd share this info. as a PSA and wonder if I'm the only one who's been under a rock and unaware of the changes with dual enrollment and Accel?!? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martha in GA Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 I enrolled my dd in an umbrella school in 9th grade for the soul purpose of being able to dual enroll. I hadn't heard of the changes in policy that allow non-accredited homeschoolers to join! She is taking one dual enrollment class this semester (she's a junior), so I did learn that her classes won't count against HOPE. I'm really surprised at the changes, considering how they reduced benefits for many students. I haven't decided about the attendance issue. My dd just got her learner's permit for driving this summer, so I'll have to have some kind of proof about attendance to get her license next year... Martha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsbeth Posted August 20, 2012 Author Share Posted August 20, 2012 I enrolled my dd in an umbrella school in 9th grade for the soul purpose of being able to dual enroll. I hadn't heard of the changes in policy that allow non-accredited homeschoolers to join! She is taking one dual enrollment class this semester (she's a junior), so I did learn that her classes won't count against HOPE. I'm really surprised at the changes, considering how they reduced benefits for many students. I haven't decided about the attendance issue. My dd just got her learner's permit for driving this summer, so I'll have to have some kind of proof about attendance to get her license next year... Martha Our umbrella had not shared this information with us of course. Here's a link to the georgia 411 page that shows the change. You can also navigate further on the site to confirm within the regulations doc itself... http://secure.gacollege411.org/Financial_Aid_Planning/Scholarships/Grants_and_Scholarships/Accel_Program.aspx Once I began researching I found this on GHEA (we're not members) scroll down to read the details... http://www.ghea.org/ I had a conversation with the school where my dd 11th grade started classes today as a dual enrollment student (Augusta State University). They confirmed this and are happy to help students apply for Accel without an umbrella. They confirmed it's not to late to make a change this fall as Accel isn't actually funded until mid-semester. Now, what to do about all of this? I really don't need/desire any of the umbrella's other services and am a bit peeved with them already about some other issues... My only other concern is with driver licensing/permits. The umbrella does eliminate those issues/worries... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ereks mom Posted August 20, 2012 Share Posted August 20, 2012 (edited) I know next to nothing about ACCEL because we've never used that option. I wondered how participation would affect HOPE eligibility later on down the line. It was my understanding that homeschool students wouldn't be accepted anyway because we aren't accredited, but I had no idea that the law had changed. I am teaching high school students, so I will probably continue to report attendance monthly (or thereabouts) because I know the girls will want to get drivers licenses soon. I found the online forms confusing, though, so I have to do some research so I can file my DOI & attendance reports before September 1. Edited August 20, 2012 by ereks mom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsbeth Posted August 20, 2012 Author Share Posted August 20, 2012 I know next to nothing about ACCEL because we've never used that option. I wondered how participation would affect HOPE eligibility later on down the line. It was my understanding that homeschool students wouldn't be accepted anyway because we aren't accredited, but I had no idea that the law had changed. I am teaching high school students, so I will probably continue to report attendance monthly (or thereabouts) because I know the girls will want to get drivers licenses soon. I found the online forms confusing, though, so I have to do some research so I can file my DOI & attendance reports before September 1. FWIW I did my electronic declaration of intent here: http://www.gadoe.org/External-Affairs-and-Policy/AskDOE/Pages/Home-Study-DOI.aspx I did receive a PDF confirmation form to print or save instantly after hitting submit. My younger two students aren't part of the umbrella, so I report them as traditional home schoolers. I plan to use the attendance form here: Here's the state page with paper and e-options for attendance: http://www.doe.k12.ga.us/Curriculum-Instruction-and-Assessment/Pages/Home-Schools.aspx I'm not so much concerned about sending them monthly, but as to how the state is going to handle the ongoing communication with DDS. I was told that attendance is usually checked up on every few months by the DDS system. I did not get the impression that the state workers were well prepared or equipped for this huge influx of paperwork. Hopefully these forms are dealt with promptly if they are sent in monthly instead of annually. That's part of why I still can't decide about the umbrella... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jen the RD Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 hsBeth, Thanks for posting those links and starting this discussion. A friend of mine alerted me recently to the changes in reporting going from monthly (county level) to annual (state level). However, I didn't have links to the info. Regarding your discussion about the learner's permit, is there an option to turn in forms monthly? And is that a better idea for those of us with kids turning 15 in 9th grade? I'm all ears to this conversation. I did talk to Piedmont College about 1 month ago and they confirmed what you all are saying about the free dual enrollment. The admissions counselor also told me that, traditionally, dual enrollment was available only to jrs & srs, but she thought that might be changing over the course of this year. She said that 10th graders who have a good SAT score, transcript, and recommendations, may also be eligible (with permission) to dual enroll next year. That was great news to me as I'm hoping that's how we can accomplish our goals for foreign language beyond this year. Thanks for starting this thread! Jennifer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ereks mom Posted August 21, 2012 Share Posted August 21, 2012 (edited) FWIW I did my electronic declaration of intent here:http://www.gadoe.org/External-Affairs-and-Policy/AskDOE/Pages/Home-Study-DOI.aspx Note that this form requests the students' birthdates. GA law does not require you to give this information, and the fact that the DOE forms request it has been a major point of contention for the past few years. Edited August 21, 2012 by ereks mom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsbeth Posted August 21, 2012 Author Share Posted August 21, 2012 Note that this form requests the students' birthdates. GA law does not require you to give this information, and the fact that the DOE forms request it has been a major point of contention for the past few years. I agree, but those are the only forms available right now that I've been able to locate. Some on the electronic field are required for submission and some can be left blank. You can see which fields have a red* as you fill it out. Special Ed. fields and birth dates are among those that can be left blank. I agree it's a bit sneaky of them to include them, but parents can with hold that info. as desired. In our situation it doesn't matter as our older two were in public school for several years so the information is already on file. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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