Capturing Spanish Acheivement on transcript

[Miss Tick]

My current 8th graders are finishing up Honors Spanish 3 this year. They are planning on Honors Spanish 4 next year, but after that no one has an opinion. Clearly I will put Honors Spanish 4 on their transcripts. It is my hope that they will take a foreign language throughout high school, Spanish or something else, BUT if they don't want to, will that single transcript entry be enough to tick the foreign language box for high school?

Should I hedge our bets by having them take the Spanish SAT2 test with listening in November? Perhaps this would be a good first official test to take in any case.

The Big State U. minimum is 4 semesters, although they don't have to be in the same language. Not that I'm shooting for the minimum, I'm just trying to calm down my freak-out.

[Mom0012]

I would take a practice SAT subject test and see where they are.  They may score very well with little or no prep if they had Ray for their teacher. 

[daijobu]

My dd had taken algebra and geometry in middle school.  I wanted to make a note of it on the high school transcript so that those box checkers didn't think we had somehow skipped those classes.  So I organized our transcript by subject with the senior year classes at the top and the less recent classes at the bottom.  I had the middle school classes in italics with an asterix to a note indicating that these were taken in middle school, so the grade did not count toward the high school gpa and the units did not count to graduation.  Perhaps you could do the same with Spanish classes taken in middle school?  

[Miss Tick]

2 hours ago, Mom0012 said:

I would take a practice SAT subject test and see where they are.  They may score very well with little or no prep if they had Ray for their teacher. 

Thanks. That would be a nice, calm, logical way to assess. Maybe I'll get a practice book and have them take it as an end of the school year celebration. 😊 I haven't heard a downside to the test in all my archive digging, so it would probably be worth giving it a go.

(Whispers- I'm scared about coordinating with college board and/or the local school system. I need to conquer this fear and this test is a low "cost" way to start.)

2 hours ago, daijobu said:

My dd had taken algebra and geometry in middle school.  I wanted to make a note of it on the high school transcript so that those box checkers didn't think we had somehow skipped those classes.  So I organized our transcript by subject with the senior year classes at the top and the less recent classes at the bottom.  I had the middle school classes in italics with an asterix to a note indicating that these were taken in middle school, so the grade did not count toward the high school gpa and the units did not count to graduation.  Perhaps you could do the same with Spanish classes taken in middle school?  

I may do this, although if it is called "Honors Spanish 4" I assume the prior 3 courses are fairly apparent. 😀 Unlike math classes with their fairly standard scopes, foreign languages seem much more at the whim of the instructor. I thought this might show sufficient mastery of the subject to satisfy box checkers assuming my dc head for something engineering-like. If not, I'll be advising continuation in the study of some language.

 

[Mom0012]

3 hours ago, SusanC said:

Thanks. That would be a nice, calm, logical way to assess. Maybe I'll get a practice book and have them take it as an end of the school year celebration. 😊 I haven't heard a downside to the test in all my archive digging, so it would probably be worth giving it a go.

(Whispers- I'm scared about coordinating with college board and/or the local school system. I need to conquer this fear and this test is a low "cost" way to start.)

I may do this, although if it is called "Honors Spanish 4" I assume the prior 3 courses are fairly apparent. 😀 Unlike math classes with their fairly standard scopes, foreign languages seem much more at the whim of the instructor. I thought this might show sufficient mastery of the subject to satisfy box checkers assuming my dc head for something engineering-like. If not, I'll be advising continuation in the study of some language.

 

The SAT subject tests and the SAT are very easy for homeschoolers to access.  You don’t have to work with the school at all.  You just set up a Collegeboard account and sign them up online at the school of your choice.  No stress at all.

[Blossom'sGirl]

You may want to see if the Big State U accepts CLEP credit for Spanish.  I have not done this with foreign languages only history.  The cost is $87 plus testing fee depending on where you go.  It is easy to sign up on college board.  It was a little more challenging for us to find a testing center and their fee was high. 

 I think you can earn up to 9 college credits depending on the test grade.  I would think that would translate to at least 2 years of high school Spainish credit plus it removes having to do it in college.

[Miss Tick]

1 hour ago, Blossom'sGirl said:

You may want to see if the Big State U accepts CLEP credit for Spanish.  I have not done this with foreign languages only history.  The cost is $87 plus testing fee depending on where you go.  It is easy to sign up on college board.  It was a little more challenging for us to find a testing center and their fee was high. 

 I think you can earn up to 9 college credits depending on the test grade.  I would think that would translate to at least 2 years of high school Spainish credit plus it removes having to do it in college.

I had forgotten about CLEP. Would an SAT Subject Test not translate into college credit?

[Mom0012]

8 hours ago, SusanC said:

I had forgotten about CLEP. Would an SAT Subject Test not translate into college credit?

It depends on the college.  Same with CLEP.  There doesn’t seem to be a lot of rhyme or reason to it.  The nearest university to us will give my dd more credit for her Latin SAT subject test score (which she took prior to AP Latin) than they give for the AP score.  The school my ds went to will accept certain CLEPs but will not accept any SAT subject test scores. I have noticed that the more selective the school, the fewer CLEPs they seem to accept.

Depending on the type of college you are looking at, SAT subject tests are used similarly to AP scores for validation of the student’s mastery of the material and would be included on the transcript. Some of the more selective schools want a few from all students and some want them just from homeschoolers.  I’ve been told not to put CLEP tests on a transcript because there is somewhat of a stigma attached to them, kind of like a GED score.  Whether that is true or not, I don’t know.  I think CLEP tests are great.  My son took a bunch and my dd may as well if the college she attends accepts them. We just don’t list them on the transcript.

 

Edited March 28, 2019 by Mom0012

[RootAnn]

15 hours ago, SusanC said:

I had forgotten about CLEP. Would an SAT Subject Test not translate into college credit?

In most cases, no.

In general, I've found that AP scores translate to more credits than CLEP scores for foreign languages in terms of how many semesters of credit you can get. But, in practice, it varies widely. (At one of DD's schools, a good CLEP score places you into the third semester of foreign language while a 5 puts you in the 5th or 6th.)

My DD's top three college choices all had completely different policies for how AP/CLEP credits translated to credits. Some gave nothing for CLEP all the way to three semesters of credit. APs varied depending on the test and score-but generally translated into the most credit.

And, foreign language was different than math, for instance, even at the same institution. (One gave nothing for a math CLEP but would give credit for foreign language CLEPs.) While my DD didn't look at any selective schools, I agree that the more selective the school, the less likely the school will translate test scores (CLEP/AP) into credits (vs. using them for placement). I can't remember seeing any SAT Subject test score translate to college credit, but I certainly didn't look at every college website out there.

[chiguirre]

There is a test that colleges use to place their students in the correct level, the AVANT. They don't give credit for it but if you do well you can start in Spanish IV. Do you have access to a community college where they could take the placement exam and one semester of Spanish?

There are a couple of online homeschool course providers that offer AP Spanish. I know the Potter's House off the top of my head but I think I've seen others:

https://at-tps.org/subjects/ap-courses/

Homeschool Spanish Academy will also prep a student for the AP exam. They offer 1 on 1 tutoring for about $10/hour if you buy their largest package.

[Mom0012]

Another thought about the SAT subject test — even if the school won’t give any credits for the score, many schools have a foreign language requirement that may be met with the score.  

But, that is one of the frustrating things.  You can’t completely cover your bases with CLEP or subject tests unless you know for sure which colleges your child is going to be attending. AP scores are more consistently accepted, from what I’ve seen, though. Honestly, I would be more interested in validating the academic achievement for transcript purposes than getting credit. You can definitely verify the achievement.  You may or may not be able to get credit.

And I do wonder why the CLEP and subject tests are viewed differently by colleges.  Both are Collegeboard multiple choice tests.

[Miss Tick]

Ok, here's what I think I understand:

CLEP - $85+ fees, may become college credit, can take it any time, can retake it (eventually)

SAT2 - $26ish, possible to become college credit at some institutions, must take on scheduled dates, can retake it

AP - $94 or so, more likely across the board to become college credit, only available in May (and requires finding a test site), theoretically could retake but keeping the material fresh might be tricky

All three are run by College Board. I didn't know this, but I guess I'm not surprised. Just jaded.

I don't care about college credit at this point. I like the lower pressure of CLEP or SAT2 as far as being able to test again more easily and sign-up more easily. Also, multiple choice is a better format for my dc with crazy bad handwriting, and I'm not sure if AP had a hand written section on this test. So i guess I'm thinking either CLEP or SAT2 late fall, so that the potential exists to retake in the Spring if needed (although spring SAT2 would be without listening.)

[Miss Tick]

11 minutes ago, Mom0012 said:

Honestly, I would be more interested in validating the academic achievement for transcript purposes than getting credit. You can definitely verify the achievement.  You may or may not be able to get credit.

This is what I'm thinking, too.  I don't mind about the credit at this point because they have no idea what they want to do and even Lee's idea about where they want to go. 

I was actually thinking about having tthm take both tests just to get a feel for the study/test process and to see the differences. This is the kind of ideas I can have in spring when fall is far away and I'm confident that this will be the year I will keep their scheduled from becoming too full!

[Mom0012]

1 hour ago, SusanC said:

although spring SAT2 would be without listening.)

I intentionally had my dd take the test w/o listening because I haven’t seen colleges differentiating between the two tests and you have to provide a portable device that plays cds, and I was getting the impression it had to be like a Walkman-type of device and finding a reliable one of those isn’t easy or cheap.  I was worried the device would malfunction or the proctor would say it wasn’t an acceptable device.

[Miss Tick]

32 minutes ago, Mom0012 said:

I intentionally had my dd take the test w/o listening because I haven’t seen colleges differentiating between the two tests and you have to provide a portable device that plays cds, and I was getting the impression it had to be like a Walkman-type of device and finding a reliable one of those isn’t easy or cheap.  I was worried the device would malfunction or the proctor would say it wasn’t an acceptable device.

I know! Where do you find a Walkman these days ??!?? Vintage shop? 😃 plus, I have two students, so I would need two!

A vinyl record shop just opened in my town, maybe they would have that kind of old technology. 😂

[Mom0012]

2 hours ago, SusanC said:

I know! Where do you find a Walkman these days ??!?? Vintage shop? 😃 plus, I have two students, so I would need two!

A vinyl record shop just opened in my town, maybe they would have that kind of old technology. 😂

I own some old ones, but they are unreliable. My dd actually found the listening test easier, so I was trying to make that happen.  Plus, it just struck me as more comprehensive to show that my student could understand the language.   Amazon had some, but they all had horrible reviews.  I contacted the Spanish department at one of the schools my ds applied to in order to ask if they differentiated between the two subject tests and they did not so I decided not to worry about it any more.