Transcript Matters: More than One Transcript?
/I field a good number of transcript questions each month. In this post, I will address another question I received several times in the past few weeks.
"What if my high schooler received some credits at the local public school, some through an online venue, and still others through dual enrollment? Do I need to create more than one transcript?"
Great question. Home educated students have a variety of different environments from which they could possibly learn. Some of these entities are transcript-producing entities, meaning the entity is accredited and provides educational oversight and responsibility for students who take classes through their venue. Others do not produce transcripts (some co-ops and support group opportunities, private instruction and tutoring, church courses and seminars).
First, it may be helpful to understand what a transcript is.
A transcript is a permanent academic record which includes all grades conferred to the named student. It represents the student's academic record; a visual summary of the student's high school years.
As the homeschooling parent overseeing your young adult's learning, you know your learner's academic record in its entirety, both in the home and away from the home. You know when courses were taken as well as which entity provided oversight for each class, whether it was an accredited transcript producing entity or not. You know whether some credits were earned at the local public school, and whether the course included CLEP or AP content, if the corresponding tests were taken, as well as what scores the student achieved.
Yes, other entities may have conferred grades and credits, but you alone know where and when those grades and credits were earned. The parent-generated transcript you provide not only validates the courses, grades, and credits received directly under your supervision, but also offers employers and universities an overview of course variety and environments from which the student benefited, in and out of the home. Therefore, every course, grade, and credit is documented in one place--on the parent-generated transcript. It will be the parent-generated transcript which alerts any employer or university that they will receive transcripts from other entities.
With four high schoolers, two grads who entered colleges and universities by differing methods and means, we have experienced this first hand. And, we have helped others walk through answering this question as well. In every case, having all courses--no matter where they were taken--documented on the parent-generated transcript was helpful in the admission process.
How did we denote courses taken outside the home?
First, there must be distinction made. We asked ourselves,
"Was this course taken under the oversight of a legally recognized transcript-producing entity?"
If the course was taken at such an entity, we flagged the course on the transcript, meaning we added some type of notation super-scripted above the grade. Then we added an explanations of the flags under the grading scale of our transcript.
Notation explanation as well as grading scale used for courses taken at home
For example, all of our high school learners completed foreign language online through an accredited source. I didn't create the course, its content, or grade the work. This was all provided by the online instructor. As the parent overseeing the education of my student (outlined in our state statute), I knew the course was taken and that the source was accredited by the state, and is a transcript-producing entity. I added the course to my parent-generated transcript to provide colleges with the information that the foreign language requirement was met. However, my superscript alerted the colleges that they would be receiving an additional transcript for admission purposes.
Courses taken in the home as well as outside entities.
For some students, there may be several superscripts. I worked on a transcript recently for a student who had taken courses at the local public high school, a private school, an online public school, and a state college. The superscript above the corresponding grades provided admission personnel with a quick, concise picture of where this student had received her high school requirements.
The parent-generated transcript not only validates the courses, grades, and credits received directly under the parent's supervision, but also offers employers and universities an overview of course variety and environments from which the student benefited, in and out of the home.
If you have questions like the one presented in this post, connect with us. Mike and I would love to help you on your journey. We publish Celebrate High School newsletter for families considering or currently walking the high school journey. You can subscribe to that newsletter below.
This blog post is intended to offer an example of personal experience. It is in no way intended to be legal advice and should not be taken as such. Parents own the sole responsibility for the training and education of their children.
