Board Policy - School Board - Mabel-Canton Schools

Quick Links

620 CREDIT FOR LEARNING

Mabel Canton Schools
Adopted 2000
Revised: November 2018

620 CREDIT FOR LEARNING

I. PURPOSE
The purpose of this policy is to recognize student achievement which occurs in other schools, in alternative learning sites, in Post-Secondary Enrollment Options and other advanced enrichment programs, and in out-of-school experiences such as community organizations, work-based learning, and other educational activities and opportunities.

II. GENERAL STATEMENT OF POLICY
It is the policy of the school district to develop and provide processes and procedures by which students may meet a graduation requirement for a content standard, whether the school district offers the content standard in its curriculum or the student accomplishes the work in another learning environment. The school district will provide a process for transfer of standards completed in another Minnesota school district, recognition of work completed in other schools and post-secondary institutions, and credit for standards achieved in extracurricular activities, activities outside the school, previous learning, and community and work experiences.

III. DEFINITIONS

A. "Accredited school" means a school that is accredited by an accrediting agency, recognized according to Minn. Stat. § 123B.445 or recognized by the Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE).

B. "Blended learning" is a form of digital learning that occurs when a student learns part time in a supervised physical setting and part time through digital delivery of instruction, or a student learns in a supervised physical setting where technology is used as a primary method to deliver instruction.

C. "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of MDE.

D. "Digital learning" is learning facilitated by technology that offers students an element of control over the time, place, path, or pace of their learning and includes blended and online learning.

E. "Eligible institution" means a Minnesota public post-secondary institution, a private, nonprofit two-year trade and technical school granting associate degrees, an opportunities industrialization center accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, or a private, residential, two-year or four-year, liberal arts, degree-granting college or university located in Minnesota.

F. "Nonpublic school" is a private school or home school in which a child is provided instruction in compliance with the Minnesota compulsory attendance laws.

G. "Online learning" is a form of digital learning delivered by an approved online learning provider.

H. "Online learning provider" is a school district, an intermediate school district, an organization of two or more school districts operating under a joint powers agreement, or a charter school located in Minnesota that provides online learning to students and is approved by MDE to provide online learning courses.

I. "Weighted grade" is a letter or numerical grade that is assigned a numerical advantage when calculating the grade point average.

IV. TRANSFER OF CONTENT STANDARDS

A. The school district will transfer high school content standards achieved in earlier grades or in other schools on standards-based programs to the student’s record upon admission, completion of a summer school program or the like.
1. The school district will accept and transfer secondary credits and grades awarded to a student from another Minnesota public secondary school upon presentation of a certified transcript from the transferring public secondary school evidencing the course taken and the grade and credit awarded.
2. Credits and grades awarded from another Minnesota public secondary school may be used to compute honor roll and/or class rank if a student has earned at least [insert number] credits from the school district.
B. When a student transfers into the school district from another Minnesota public school district, any standards completed in the sending school district, along with scores recorded by the sending district, shall be recorded as completed with a notation indicating the identity of the school district from which the records are transferred.
C. Students shall be advised of the opportunities available to complete further requirements and electives.

V. RECOGNITION OF COMPLETED WORK

A. The school district will translate work completed by students, including those with special needs, in schools (K-12, post-secondary or other) which have not reported achievement according to the Minnesota Graduation Standards, into standards completion equalizations.

B. When a student transfers into the school district with a transcript from a school or school district other than a Minnesota public school district, the following shall be the policy and procedure for recognizing such previous achievement:

1. When the student has been scored with a performance package that fulfills or approximates the provisions of a full standard, the standards completed shall be treated as if they had been accomplished in a Minnesota public school;

2. When the course, topic or content of a Minnesota high school content standard has been completed, but through requirements which do not parallel or approximate the Minnesota Profile of Learning rules, the standard shall be declared achieved, no score shall be assigned, and the transcript shall indicate that the standard as been equalized from a transcript from [name of sending institution].

3. Effort shall be made to ascertain the content of courses, programs, and learning previously achieved to credit the student as fully as possible for previous learning. This may include asking the student or the sending school to verify content of competed courses and programs when that content is not clear from the transcript.

VI. CREDIT BY ASSESSMENT

A. The school district will provide students, including those with special needs, with the opportunity to receive credit for standards achieved in extracurricular activities, activities outside of school, previous learning, and community and work experiences.

B. When a student requests recognition of work completed but for which no academic transcript exists, the student shall make application to the principal.

C. Not more than sixty (60) days after the application is filed, the principal shall inform the student and the student’s parents what evidence must be presented to certify the completion of the standard. Evidence of completion might include letters of support and explanation from individuals or organizations who have actually witnessed the student’s demonstration of the standard, oral or written tests or interviews, actual performances or demonstrations assessed by district staff or others knowledgeable in the specifications of the standard, and/or other as appropriate for the individual situation.

D. Upon the principal’s determination of successful submission of the required evidence, the standard shall be noted on the transcript, with a score if appropriate, and a notation of where and when the standard was completed and verified.

[Note: School districts are required by law to have a process for providing students with credit for content standards achieved outside the regular curriculum. The process set forth in this policy is the process the Department of Children, Families and Learning suggests school districts follow.]

VII. POST-SECONDARY ENROLLMENT CREDIT

A. A student who satisfactorily completes a post-secondary enrollment options course or program under Minn. Stat. § 124D.09 that has been approved as meeting the necessary requirements is not required to complete other requirements of the Minnesota Academic Standards content standards corresponding to that specific rigorous course of study.

B. Secondary credits granted to a student through a post-secondary enrollment options course or program that meets or exceeds a graduation standard or requirement shall be counted toward the graduation and credit requirements of a student completing the Minnesota Academic Standards.

1. Course credit will be considered by the school district only upon presentation of a certified transcript from an eligible institution evidencing the course taken and the grade and credit awarded.

2. Seven quarter or four semester post-secondary credits shall equal at least one full year of high school credit. Fewer post-secondary credits may be prorated.

3. When a determination is made that the content of the post-secondary course aligns directly with a required course for high school graduation, the commensurate credit and grade will be recorded on the student's transcript as a course credit applied toward graduation requirements.

4. In the event the content of the post-secondary course does not fully align with the content of a high school course required for graduation but is comparable to elective credits offered byt the school district for graduation, the school district may provide elective credit and the grade will be recorded on the student's transcript as an elective course credit applied toward graduation requirements.

5. If no comparable course is offered by the school district for which high school graduation credit would be provided, the school district will notify the Commissioner, who shall determine the number of credits that shall be granted to a student.

6. When secondary credit is granted for post-secondary credits taken by a student, the school district will record those credits on the student's transcript as credits earned at a post-secondary institution.

C. A list of the courses or programs meeting the necessary requirements may be obtained from the school district.

VIII. CREDIT FROM ONLINE LEARNING COURSES

A. Secondary credits granted to a student through an online learning course or program that meets or exceeds a graduation standard or requirement shall be counted toward the graduation and credit requirements of a student completing the Minnesota Academic Standards.

B. Course credit will be considered only upon official documentation from the online learning provider evidencing the course taken and the grade and credit awarded to the student.

C. When a student provides documentation from an online learning provider, the course credit and course grade shall be recorded and counted toward graduation credit requirements for all courses or programs that meet or exceed the school district's graduation requirements in the same manner as credits are awarded for students transferring from another Minnesota public school as set forth in the Section IV.A. above.

IX. ADVANCED ACADEMIC CREDIT

A. The school district will grant academic credit to a student attending an accelerated or advanced academic course offered by a higher education institution or a nonprofit public agency, other than the school district.

B. Course credit will be considered only upon official documentation from the higher education institution or nonprofit public agency that the student successfully completed the course attended and passed an examination approved by the school district.

C.  When a determination is made that the content of the advanced academic course aligns directly with a required course for high school graduation, the commensurate credit and grade will be recorded on the student's transcript as a course credit applied toward graduation requirements.

D. In the event the content of the advanced academic course does not fully align with the content of a high school course required for graduation but is comparable to elective credits offered by the school district for graduation, the school district may provide elective credit and the grade will be recorded on the student's transcript as an elective course credit applied toward graduation requirements.

E. If no comparable course is offered by the school district for which high school graduation credit would be provided, the school district will notify the commissioner and request a determination of the number of credits that shall be granted to a student.

X. WEIGHTED GRADES

[Note: School districts must identify in policy whether they offer courses with weighted grades. Therefore, school districts must include one of the following options int heir policies.]

A. The school district does not offer weighted grades.

[or]

A. The school district offers weighted grades for courses that are identified as more rigorous or academically challenging as follows:

[List the types of courses that will be awarded weighted grades and the multiplier, similar to the following examples.]

1. A grade awarded in an Advanced Placement course will be multiplied by a factor of ______(i.e., 1.07).

2. A grade awarded in an Honors course will be multiplied by a factor of ______.

3. A grade awarded in a College In the Schools course will be multiplied by a factor of ______.

4. A grade awarded in a course taken through a Post-Secondary Enrollment Options program will be multiplied by a factor of ________.

5. A grade awarded in a course in a duel enrollment course will be multiplied by a factor of ______.

B. The school district will update its website prior to the beginning of each school year with a listing of the courses for which a student may earn a weighted grade.

XI. PROCESS FOR AWARDING CREDIT

A. The building principal will be responsible for carrying out the process to award credits and grades pursuant to this policy. The building principal will notify students in writing of the decision as to how credits and grades will be awarded.

B. A student or the student's parent or guardian may seek reconsideration of the decision by the building principal as to credits and/or grades awarded upon request of a student or the student's parent or guardian if the request is made in writing to the superintendent within five school days of the date of the building principal's decision. The request should set forth the credit and/or grade requested and the reason(s) why credit(s)/grade(s) should be provided as requested. Any pertinent documentation in support of the request should be submitted.

C. The decision of the superintendent as to the award of credits or grades shall be final decision by the school district and shall not be appealable by the student or student's parent or guardian except as set forth in Section IX.D. below.

D. If a student disputes the number of credits granted by the school district for a particular post-secondary enrollment course, online learning course, or advanced academic credit course, the student may appeal the school district's decision to the Commissioner. The decision of the Commissioner shall be final.

E. At an time during the process, the building principal or superintendent may ask for course descriptions, syllabi, or work samples from a course where content of the course is in question for purposes of determining alignment with graduation requirements or the number of credits to be granted. Students will not be provided credit until requested documentation is available for review, if requested.

Legal References:
Minn. Stat. § 120B.02 (Educational Expectations for Minnesota's Students)
Minn. Stat. § 120B.021 (Required Academic Standards)
Minn. Stat. § 120B.11 (School District Process)
Minn. Stat. § 120B.14 (Advanced Academic Credit)
Minn. Stat. § 123B.02 (General Powers of Independent School Districts)
Minn. Stat. § 123B.445 (Nonpublic Education Council)
Minn. Stat. § 124D.03, Subd. 9 (Enrollment Options Program)
Minn. Stat. § 124D.09 (Post-Secondary Enrollment Options Act)
Minn. Stat. § 124D.095 (Online Learning Option)
Minn. Rules Parts 3501.0640-3501.0655 (Academic Standards for Language Arts)
Minn. Rules Parts 3501.0700-3501.0745 (Academic Standards for Mathematics)
Minn. Rules Parts 3501.0800-3501.0815 (Academic Standards for the Arts)
Minn. Rules Parts 3501.0900-3501.0955 (Academic Standards in Science)
Minn. Rules Parts 3501.1000-3501.1190 (Graduation-Required Assessment for Diploma) (repealed Minn. L. 2013, Ch. 116, Art. 2, § 22)
Minn. Rules Parts 3501.1200-3501.1210 (Academic Standards for English Language Development)
Minn. Rules Parts 3501.1300-3501.1345 (Academic Standards for Social Studies)

Cross References:
MSBA/MASA Model Policy 104 (School District Mission Statement)
MSBA/MASA Model Policy 601 (School District Curriculum and Instruction Goals)
MSBA/MASA Model Policy 613 (Graduation Requirements)
MSBA/MASA Model Policy 614 (School District Testing Plan and Procedure)
MSBA/MASA Model Policy 615 (Testing Accommodations, Modifications, and Exemptions for IEPs, Section 504 Plans, and LEP Students)
MSBA/MASA Model Policy 616 (School District System Accountability)
MSBA/MASA Model Policy 618 (Assessment of Student Achievement)
MSBA/MASA Model Policy 624 (Online Learning Options)

Back