A Reader Writes... EOCs, Credits and Transfers - Part 1

In response to the 5/23/2012 post, “A Principal Asks... EOCs, Credits and Transfers,” a LYS school leader writes:

I think the issue is far from moot. The issue is if credit has been granted OR denied by another institution, it is impossible to change the grade on the AAR (Academic Achievement Record, AKA transcript).   That is, my school district can't change the PEIMS inputs from another district that exists on the AAR.  Cain's suggestions would be problematic for this reason.  Try explaining to a parent that credit appearing on their child's AAR doesn't count because you don't want it to.  Good luck with that one.  If a child has credit earned on an AAR, it is considered a grave error to re-enroll the child in the same course again as you can only get credit for a course one time.  I have seen children with two credits in Algebra 1 before, and I have dealt with the people who made the mistake severely, as it is a manifestation of incompetence and malpractice.  

If the credit was denied on the AAR from another district, the new district would have no choice but to either re-enroll the child in the same course or place the child in credit recovery.  Dealing with a failing grade on an AAR is much more straightforward than dealing with a passing grade from another district on an AAR.

So my take is different than Cain's: 

Case #1: If credit appears on the AAR and the child passed EOC the new district is stuck with it and must honor it.  

Case #2: If the child passed the course but failed the EOC, the district would place the child in some form of RTI course and would have to retest the child, of course.  The passed course cannot be retaken for credit (there are other options, of course, like course number stacking).  

Case #3: If the credit is denied on the AAR for any reason, including attendance or failure, the new district is stuck with that too, and the child must either re-take the course or enter credit recovery.  If the child failed the course in the previous district but passed EOC, I would place the child in credit recovery and maybe some RTI for the next course in the 4x4 sequence and be done with it.  

Case #4: If the child failed the course and failed EOC, I would have the child retake the course and EOC with a healthy dose of RTI included, the obvious solution.

I think my solutions are the only solutions that are acceptable.  I think if a receiving district tried to suppress or supplant the passing grades on an AAR from a previous district, the issue would go to the Commissioner, and I think the analysis I have presented here would prevail.

Of course none of this has anything to do with class rank or GPA, which is a local issue that can be recalculated.  I do believe that the issue of course credit has to be dealt with as I have described above, with some small variations allowed of course.

SC Response

We are actually discussing the same issue at two distinct points in time.  So instead of our opinions differing, they are the same.

I tackled the problem based on the student transferring to a district BEFORE a credit in a particular class was officially granted or not granted. Which was the original context of the question, though based on a cold read of the blog post, that was not clear.  In that case, the logic outlined in the original post is completely valid (as we agreed, in our phone conversation).

You tackled the problem based on the student transferring to a district AFTER a credit in a particular class was officially granted or not granted, which is a reasonable assumption and a regularly occurring situation.  In that case, the logic outlined in your response (above) is completely valid (as we agreed in our phone conversation).

So for the reader, as is it with so many things in education, timing is everything.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

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