Understanding Credits/Assigning Credits

revised 8/10/07

In general, students are awarded 5 credits per semester for a high school level course.  For example, if the student used Glencoe Algebra 1, upon completion of the text and demonstrated mastery of the state standards for Algebra 1, the student would earn 10 credits of Algebra 1 (5 credits for Algebra 1A and 5 credits for Algebra 1B).  Since Golden Valley Charter School is performance-based, the time required to complete this text would not be taken into consideration.  If the text were completed in one semester, the student would earn the full 10 credits.  On the other hand, if the student worked an entire year and completed half of the book, the student would earn only 5 credits total for the year.

Credits may derive from a variety of sources:

1)    Courses chosen out of one of the four GVCS Course Catalogs

These courses are “pre-approved” and include text options and assignments.

2)    A student-, parent- and ES-developed elective course (a created course)

Created courses are acceptable for elective course titles that do not appear in either the a-g, regular, nor basics catalogs.  The expectations for any course are always laid out at the beginning of the course, as explained in the High School Course Selection and Approval Policy.   

3)    Concurrent credit from a college course

GVCS students may enroll in a maximum of 6 college units per semester.

The number of high school credits earned is determined by the Community College Unit Conversion Policy.  The ES may consult his/her advisor for help with determining the appropriate assignment of high school credits.

The Class Completion Check-Off Sheet (Word doc) is available for your use if the student wishes to earn credits based on completion of hours.  GVCS typically assigns 5 credits per semester of work and 10 credits for a full year's work; approximately 15 hours of work equals one credit.  The sheet has 150 spaces representing a full year's work, 150 hours or 10 credits.  GVCS does not require that 150 hours must be completed in order for a student to earn 10 credits.  However, a range of 120 to 150 hours for 10 credits should be a guide, when the body of work is difficult to measure.  The check-off sheet is kept with the student or parent.  Each block represents one clock hour of work.  As the student completes an hour of work, a block is checked off.  For accuracy, the date of the work is included in the block.  Comments from the student or parent and a short description of the work is included, as well as a parent signature.

It is important the ES keep complete documentation for high school students earning credits.  Complete learning records provide documentation and verification of awarded credits.  Include on every learning record enough information to document the learning that occurred through activities that support the subject content.  All high school learning records must list the specific name of the course in the growth area, before the description of the objectives and activities.  In addition, the name of the text used for the course may be listed.  If appropriate, it is recommended the ES list chapters covered.  All content topics and activities completed by the student must be included in a high school learning records, including but not limited to, graded chapter reviews and tests, research papers, and projects completed.  In addition, the ES must collect graded samples of course work at each learning record meeting, including graded assessments, papers/essays/reports, and/or corrected exercises.