Documenting Your Learning Part III

Creating a Transcript

The transcript is a concise (usually one page) statement of what your teen has learned during his or her high school years. The transcript includes course titles, year studied, credits awarded, and grades earned. How can you compress all that learning into only one page? Here is one example of a partial transcript

Official Transcript Tranquility Academy
Student Data Ima Teen 123 Happy Lane Happy, NJ 08550 DOB: 8/1/92 Gender: F		School Data Tranquility Academy 123 Happy Lane Happy, NJ 08550 Telephone: 609.123.4567 Parent: Ima Parent				Junior Year Report Date Issued: 6/3/2013 Total Credits:          23 G.P.A.:                   4.0
course	credit		2010-2011 Freshman		2011-2012 Sophomore		2012-2013 Junior
English
World Literature	1		A
American Literature	1				A
AP Eng. Lang & Comp*	1						A
Mathematics
Algebra I (8th grade)	1		A
Geometry	1		A
Advanced Algebra	1				A
Statistics	1						A
Science
PHY 111: Physical Science Concepts**	1		A
BIO 114: Environmental Science Concepts**	1		A
CHE 101: General Chemistry I**	1				A
CHE 102: General Chemistry II**	1				A
Biology w/Lab	1						A
*  APEX course ** Mercer County Community College Course				Grading System A=Mastery B= Comprehension C=Basic Understanding

Since you're the "school," you can organize the transcript however you like. If you need inspiration, a Google search of "sample high school transcript" will generate millions of hits. Whichever format you choose, you'll want to include identifying information about your student--his/her name, address, date of birth, and graduation date--and information about your homeschool--school name, address, phone, name of parent/guardian overseeing the student's education, date that the transcript was generated, and an explanation of your grading system.

If your student takes a community college or online class, include those credits on your master transcript. In the sample transcript above, those types of classes were denoted with asterisks. Your teen will also want to request that brick and mortar or cyber schools send official transcripts as part of a college application.

Two questions that often arise around transcripts are:

1. How do I decide what constitutes a credit?

The term "credit" can be a little confusing. Traditionally, it is a measure of time: how much time did a student spend in "contact" with, or being "instructed" by, a teacher. High schools and colleges use slightly different calculations to determine credit hours; there is also variation among States and even among school districts. To keep things simple, I usually think of one credit as the equivalent of work done in a high school class that meets for about an hour for 5 days/week for one academic year (September-June). This approach can be used for science and math courses with a more standard and narrowly defined content (e.g. Algebra--if you cover the material in a standard textbook, it's worth 1 credit whether it takes you 1.5 years or 0.5 years) and Humanities courses with no standardly defined content (e.g. English I: you determine how much work --number of books read/stories written/speeches orated/plays performed-- equals 1 credit). 

2. How do I decide which credits to include?

College admissions officers often begin to evaluate credits by separating them into 3 broad categories: academic subjects (English, Science, Math, Social Studies, Foreign Language), electives (Industrial, Visual, and Performing Arts), and physical education. In NJ, at a minimum, public high school students are expected to complete the following credits:

·      4 English

·      3 Math (1 Algebra, 1 Geometry, 1 additional that builds on Alg. and Geo.)

·      3 Lab Science (1 Biology, 1 Chemistry, Physics or Environmental Science, 1 additional)

·      1/2 Financial, Economic, and Entrepreneurial Literacy

·      1 World History

·      2 U.S. History

·      1 Visual/Performing Arts

·      1 21st Century Life & Careers

·      1 World Languages

·      3/4 credit per year Health & Physical Education

·      4.5 Electives

Some homeschoolers find it helpful to use these or similar labels when documenting learning on a transcript. So, for example, the trips you took to colonial Williamsburg, Plimouth Plantation, Independence National Historical Park, Valley Forge, and Washington D.C. could all contribute toward a credit entitled "U.S. History I."

You CAN Homeschool Through High School/Intro to College Admissions

I hope you'll be able to join me and Alison Snieckus on Saturday, June 15th, 9:30-12:30, for our 8th Annual You CAN Homeschool through High School (and attend a college that's a good fit!) workshop. ‪The Workshop will explore how parents and teens can work together to set goals and create a plan for the high school years as well as how to implement that plan with the wide variety of available resources, including community college, online learning, textbooks, travel, and internships.

Since last year's workshop, I've earned the Certificate in College Counseling from UCLA, attended my first Higher Education Consultants Association (HECA) conference, and just returned from the New Jersey Association for College Admission Counseling (NJACAC) annual conference. I've met with dozens of college admissions representatives from all over the U.S. and I'm excited to share what I've learned about what colleges are looking for from their homeschooled applicants.

I've learned so much, in fact, that we've decided to create a sequel to "You CAN": College 101-- Introduction to the College Admissions Process. ‪Of particular interest to high school juniors and seniors and their parents, this workshop is a natural sequel to You CAN Homeschool through High School. We’ll briefly examine all the post-secondary options-- work, gap year, certificate program, 2-yr. and 4-yr degree programs—and then provide an overview of the college admissions process. Whatever your student’s career goals, this workshop will help raise his or her awareness of the available options for further education and vocational training. We'll conclude with a panel of young adults who will speak about their own homeschooling experiences and how those experiences impact their college lives.

College 101-- Introduction to the College Admissions Process‪ will be held immediately following You CAN on Saturday, June 15th, 1:30-4:30.

The workshops will take place at the Princeton Learning Cooperative,  a center that helps teenagers live and learn without school by supporting them to create a personalized education based on their interests, abilities, and goals. Alison Snieckus is on staff at Princeton Learning Cooperative. In addition to teaching classes and one-on-one tutoring, Alison serves as a mentor for PLC teens, helping the teens design their high school education, make plans for their next steps after high school, and, if desired, apply to 4-year colleges and universities. Prior to working at PLC, Alison worked at ETS as a measurement statistician. Alison has been involved in homeschooling for 13 years.

If you'd like to attend, contact me at barbara@rapaportconsulting.com to reserve a space and for information about fees. Hope to see you there!