mommycheryl Posted December 29, 2014 Share Posted December 29, 2014 We are just beginning homeschooling my DD who is a junior. She is withdrawing from public hs, starts 2 classes at local CC next week and others through co-op and at home. As far as credits for her high school transcript, does a 3 semester hour course count as 1 high school credit or .5 credit for her transcript? The friend who homeschools all her kids (oldest is a jr also) said a semester class is .5 credit. Everywhere else I look I see it recommended to count as 1 credit. The only thing I have found that is state specific is from 2 different counties in the state saying that their public school students get 1 credit per 3-5 hour semester course. (I am still combining a composition course with a lit course to count as high school English) So, what do y'all do? Thanks! Cheryl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bugs Posted December 29, 2014 Share Posted December 29, 2014 3 credit semester = 1 high school in my book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted December 29, 2014 Share Posted December 29, 2014 I think it partly depends on the class. If it is a foreign language it may well cover a year's worth of high school material. A history class might cover all of US history in one semester or it might take two semesters. An English class may only do a few books and papers or it might cover much more and be more the equivalent of a years worth. I have a similar quandary in that my son took the first semester of pre calc. It was hundreds of hours of class and homework, but only covered first semester of what is typically covered in a high school pre calc class. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted December 29, 2014 Share Posted December 29, 2014 I used 5 quarter credits (which is equivalent to 3 semester credits) = 0.5 high school credits. However, the state I live in says that public high schools must grant 1 high school credit for 5 quarter credits earned at community colleges. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted December 29, 2014 Share Posted December 29, 2014 I found this listing for Florida, which makes me think I may be too strict. http://valenciacollege.edu/dual/documents/fldoecourselistinfo.pdf I think if you explain your policy and are reasonably consistent you are ok. In other words, the 3 college credit English class with an A and the 3 college credit English class with a B are both worth one high school credit. Or you explain that you give more weight on gpa for 300 level courses than 100 level courses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanetC Posted December 29, 2014 Share Posted December 29, 2014 There are two answers to this: 1. Yes, one semester of community college at 3 credit hours or greater is one high school credit 2. Some one semester community college classes still do not meet high school graduation requirements -- although they cover more depth than required in a high school class, they may be missing breadth. For example, in my state, high school students who meet the high school American history requirement via dual enrollment must take both pre-civil war US History and post civil war history, two separate classes. They get two credits (while the kids who take the course at the high school only get one). One history class at the community college does not meet the breadth requirement for the school district -- they want them to have both "halves" of the class. So, you may be awarding a full-year's high school credit, but still not calling a class enough to meet graduation requirements. Depending on the state in which you live, the homeschool parent has more or less flexibility in setting the homeschool graduation requirement. Even in states where there is greater parent flexibility, you need to see what the college admissions requirements and recommendations are, so that you do not become too flexible. --Janet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 There are two answers to this: 1. Yes, one semester of community college at 3 credit hours or greater is one high school credit 2. Some one semester community college classes still do not meet high school graduation requirements -- although they cover more depth than required in a high school class, they may be missing breadth. For example, in my state, high school students who meet the high school American history requirement via dual enrollment must take both pre-civil war US History and post civil war history, two separate classes. They get two credits (while the kids who take the course at the high school only get one). One history class at the community college does not meet the breadth requirement for the school district -- they want them to have both "halves" of the class. So, you may be awarding a full-year's high school credit, but still not calling a class enough to meet graduation requirements. Depending on the state in which you live, the homeschool parent has more or less flexibility in setting the homeschool graduation requirement. Even in states where there is greater parent flexibility, you need to see what the college admissions requirements and recommendations are, so that you do not become too flexible. --Janet Janet I LOVE this way of thinking about it. It recognizes the amount of work required while also acknowledging that there is a scope expected. Makes me feel better about granting a full credit for the pre calc class. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Girls' Mom Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 I look at it much like the block scheduling our local high school does. For example, they have a one semester geometry class that equals one credit. The classes are longer in length than traditional year long classes, but they also have fewer classes per semester. Anyway, the Statistics course dd took at CC this past semester was definitely worthy of a full high school math credit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirty ethel rackham Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 Why does it matter if it is a semester or a quarter? A 3 credit hour class is worth 3 college credits. It doesn't matter if that material was covered in a 15 week semester or a 10 week quarter. There is a reason why there is a lower amount of credits allowed per quarter than per semester ... because it is the same amount of work compressed into a shorter time. Anyway, I awarded a .5 credit for 3 hours and 1 credit for over that amount. I am not saying that this is what you should do ... I feel that I was too inflexible with this and it bit me in the rear with my 2nd kid and I nearly shorted that kid out of English credits, which left us scrambling. I have friends who did the 3 credit hours = 1 high school credit formula and they had no trouble with college admissions. My reasoning was that AP US History is worth only 1 year credit at our local high school, but it would take two 3 credit-hour History classes at our local LAC to cover the same amount of material. Similar to AP Biology. It took 7 credit hours at the same LAC to cover a 1 year AP Bio class. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 Why does it matter if it is a semester or a quarter? A 3 credit hour class is worth 3 college credits. It doesn't matter if that material was covered in a 15 week semester or a 10 week quarter. There is a reason why there is a lower amount of credits allowed per quarter than per semester ... because it is the same amount of work compressed into a shorter time. Anyway, I awarded a .5 credit for 3 hours and 1 credit for over that amount. I am not saying that this is what you should do ... I feel that I was too inflexible with this and it bit me in the rear with my 2nd kid and I nearly shorted that kid out of English credits, which left us scrambling. I have friends who did the 3 credit hours = 1 high school credit formula and they had no trouble with college admissions. My reasoning was that AP US History is worth only 1 year credit at our local high school, but it would take two 3 credit-hour History classes at our local LAC to cover the same amount of material. Similar to AP Biology. It took 7 credit hours at the same LAC to cover a 1 year AP Bio class. I see what you are saying about needing two semesters to cover all of the ground of the AP course. But would a one year AP course get a student one or two 3 credit courses worth of college credit? (Probably depends on the AP class and the exam score, not to mention which college.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunshine State Sue Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 I found this listing for Florida, which makes me think I may be too strict. http://valenciacollege.edu/dual/documents/fldoecourselistinfo.pdf Similarly, our CC has Dual Enrollment credits spelled out. Perhaps your CC or PS has something similar? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngieW in Texas Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 I don't have to count credits the same way the district that I live in does, but my district generally counts one semester of any foreign language, math, art, or science as a full credit high school course. For English or social studies, one semester counts as 0.5 credits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joules Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 Why does it matter if it is a semester or a quarter? A 3 credit hour class is worth 3 college credits. It doesn't matter if that material was covered in a 15 week semester or a 10 week quarter. There is a reason why there is a lower amount of credits allowed per quarter than per semester ... because it is the same amount of work compressed into a shorter time. It does matter, if they are college credits. If you transfer from a college on semesters to one on quarters, your hours will be adjusted. In general, the ratio of quarter hours to semester hours is 3 to 2, though colleges may vary and sometimes transfer hours on a course by course basis. (I've definitely heard students feel like they have been robbed in both cases, as the transfer from one to the other can be complicated.) So, it takes about 180 quarter hours for a 4 year degree, but only about 120 semester hours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirty ethel rackham Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 It does matter, if they are college credits. If you transfer from a college on semesters to one on quarters, your hours will be adjusted. In general, the ratio of quarter hours to semester hours is 3 to 2, though colleges may vary and sometimes transfer hours on a course by course basis. (I've definitely heard students feel like they have been robbed in both cases, as the transfer from one to the other can be complicated.) So, it takes about 180 quarter hours for a 4 year degree, but only about 120 semester hours. I don't think that is necessarily true. I looked at 5 colleges/universities that are on the quarter system. North Central College - local to me - 120 hours required for graduation. Looking at the Illinois Articulation Initiative, most 3 credit hour quarter classes are equivalent to 3 credit hour semester classes. Lawrence University - 216 units, but most of their classes that would be 3 credit hours at the local colleges are 6 units there. Augustana College - 124 credit hours DePaul University - 192 quarter hours but their 4 credit hour class is equivalent to many 3 credit hour classes elsewhere. Knox College - 36 credit required for graduation. A 3 semester hour class qualifies at a .3 credit class per their transfer policies. And vice versa ... 1 Knox credit transfers as 3.3 semester credit hours. So, the equivalent would be 138 credit hours for graduation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxbridgeacademy Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 Our local H.S. grant 1 years worth of credit for each CC or Univ. 3-4 credit class, I plan to do the same. For those who feel that covering U.S. Hist. 1 at CC isn't enough (because of state or college admission reqs.) couldn't you just add in a second semester at home (covering 2nd half) and count it as 1.5 credits? Or do both semesters of U.S. Hist at CC and give 2 full H.S. credits? I'm in a low reg. state where the Universities are very open to HSer's and non-traditional students so it's not as much of a concern for me. For me I plan on awarding credit for the amount of work my DC do. If it feels like a full credit worthy class then they're getting a full credit whether it takes 10 weeks, 1 semester or 2 years (I'm going to stretch P.E. out over Freshman/Sophomore years). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsuga Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 Why does it matter if it is a semester or a quarter? A 3 credit hour class is worth 3 college credits. It doesn't matter if that material was covered in a 15 week semester or a 10 week quarter. There is a reason why there is a lower amount of credits allowed per quarter than per semester ... because it is the same amount of work compressed into a shorter time. Anyway, I awarded a .5 credit for 3 hours and 1 credit for over that amount. I am not saying that this is what you should do ... I feel that I was too inflexible with this and it bit me in the rear with my 2nd kid and I nearly shorted that kid out of English credits, which left us scrambling. I have friends who did the 3 credit hours = 1 high school credit formula and they had no trouble with college admissions. My reasoning was that AP US History is worth only 1 year credit at our local high school, but it would take two 3 credit-hour History classes at our local LAC to cover the same amount of material. Similar to AP Biology. It took 7 credit hours at the same LAC to cover a 1 year AP Bio class. What Joules said. Our state has both semesters and quarters within the state system itself, and it's a big fat pain in the butt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkT Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 There are two answers to this: 1. Yes, one semester of community college at 3 credit hours or greater is one high school credit 2. Some one semester community college classes still do not meet high school graduation requirements -- although they cover more depth than required in a high school class, they may be missing breadth. For example, in my state, high school students who meet the high school American history requirement via dual enrollment must take both pre-civil war US History and post civil war history, two separate classes. They get two credits (while the kids who take the course at the high school only get one). One history class at the community college does not meet the breadth requirement for the school district -- they want them to have both "halves" of the class. So, you may be awarding a full-year's high school credit, but still not calling a class enough to meet graduation requirements. Depending on the state in which you live, the homeschool parent has more or less flexibility in setting the homeschool graduation requirement. Even in states where there is greater parent flexibility, you need to see what the college admissions requirements and recommendations are, so that you do not become too flexible. --Janet this implies that the CC class was more in depth (for example by writing essays instead of a just a multiple choice test, outside readings not just a text book etc), if not then the CC class is just weak and a way to extract more money per knowledge from the student - in the end, depth before breadth is better IMHO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 We are just beginning homeschooling my DD who is a junior. She is withdrawing from public hs, starts 2 classes at local CC next week and others through co-op and at home. As far as credits for her high school transcript, does a 3 semester hour course count as 1 high school credit or .5 credit for her transcript? The friend who homeschools all her kids (oldest is a jr also) said a semester class is .5 credit. Everywhere else I look I see it recommended to count as 1 credit. The only thing I have found that is state specific is from 2 different counties in the state saying that their public school students get 1 credit per 3-5 hour semester course. (I am still combining a composition course with a lit course to count as high school English) So, what do y'all do? Thanks! Cheryl We always gave 1 high school credit (or, well, 10, because it was California) for a college class, regardless of how many credits the college class was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiana Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 It does matter, if they are college credits. If you transfer from a college on semesters to one on quarters, your hours will be adjusted. In general, the ratio of quarter hours to semester hours is 3 to 2, though colleges may vary and sometimes transfer hours on a course by course basis. (I've definitely heard students feel like they have been robbed in both cases, as the transfer from one to the other can be complicated.) So, it takes about 180 quarter hours for a 4 year degree, but only about 120 semester hours. This is complicated by the fact that some colleges that still run on quarters assign semester credits. 3 hours a week for a 10 week quarter is clearly less class time than 3 hours a week for a 15 week semester. In this scheme, 3 quarter credits will not cover as much as 3 semester credits. 5 hours a week for 10 weeks is the same as 3 hours a week for 15 weeks, which is why the general equivalency was that 5 quarter hours equal 3 semester hours. In this system, a student would take the same number of courses as they do under semesters, but each class would cover somewhat less. Some colleges (like north central college, mentioned) effectively assign semester credit for classes taught over a quarter. If you look at their class schedules, you can see that their 3-credit courses, rather than going for 150 class minutes a week, go for 210 class minutes a week, but over a shorter term. In this scheme, 3 credits is 3 credits and it would transfer exactly. A student would not take 12-18 credits, but rather 8-12. Be careful you are comparing apples to apples when you discuss semester vs. quarter credits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkT Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 This is complicated by the fact that some colleges that still run on quarters assign semester credits. . Some colleges (like north central college, mentioned) effectively assign semester credit for classes taught over a quarter. If you look at their class schedules, you can see that their 3-credit courses, rather than going for 150 class minutes a week, go for 210 class minutes a week, but over a shorter term. In this scheme, 3 credits is 3 credits and it would transfer exactly. A student would not take 12-18 credits, but rather 8-12. Be careful you are comparing apples to apples when you discuss semester vs. quarter credits. Are you sure they are actually quarter based? I went to a trimester based school for a few years. The trimester was 11 weeks (with finals week) but we went more often 5 meeting hrs a week per class so the total hours for the class matched a 31/3 hr semester class. We took 3 classes each trimester. When I transferred, I received 3 semester credits for each class. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiana Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Are you sure they are actually quarter based? I went to a trimester based school for a few years. The trimester was 11 weeks (with finals week) but we went more often 5 meeting hrs a week per class so the total hours for the class matched a 31/3 hr semester class. We took 3 classes each trimester. When I transferred, I received 3 semester credits for each class. I'm really not sure of your point -- are you trying to say that if they call it a quarter they give quarter credits and if they call it a trimester they give semester credits? I would consider it unlikely that this is uniform and it is certainly not something that someone should rely on. The point I'm trying to make (with which I do not think you disagree) is that a student attending a college that doesn't run on standard semesters should investigate how many contact hours they are getting when determining how many credits to assign. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teachin'Mine Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Generally for instate transfers it won't matter if the DE class is given high school credit, but for some colleges no transfer credit will be given if the student also received high school credit and the course is listed on the high school transcript. Just something else to consider when assigning high school credit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunshine State Sue Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 I asked the admissions office at Colorado State University, and they said that they would expect a college course taken as DE to be given 1 high school credit Hey! What a novel idea - ask a college admissions officer. You must be smarter than the average bear. :thumbup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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