04/10/2020 School System Transcript
Good evening Hamblen County School Family. Today is April 10, 2020. Please contact Kellie Smith if you have any questions or concerns and we will address those issue in a future update.
The following information doesn’t apply to all students but several parents and students have asked about dual enrollment and state credit. Please review the following and contact Kellie Smith if you have any questions.
When Hamblen County Schools closed Dual Enrollment student accounts at TCAT froze.
Students will receive the grade they had and the hours accumulated at the time of the closure.
A senior student will receive his or her current grade for graduation purposes. The student would then continue their program at TCAT when they are accepted by the school.
Graduating seniors that have already applied for acceptance at TCAT will receive information from TCAT about when they will be able to begin there program. Some programs have waiting lists, please contact TCAT at 423-586-5771 for more information about fall semester.
Dual Enrollment does not take place during the summer trimester so rising seniors will resume classes in the fall during their senior year of high school. Students will resume where they were when their account was frozen.
Statewide Dual Credit Courses (SDC): Spring 2020 testing for all SDC courses has been cancelled. The state department will provide a testing opportunity in September for students who want to earn college credit, including seniors. Tests may be administered at the TCAT, Morristown or WSCC. Our high school SDC teachers will reach out to students as more information becomes available.
Dual Enrollment: Students taking dual enrollment courses should be completing those courses online under the direction of the postsecondary institution’s guidelines. For most students, that will be WSCC.
Local Dual Credit (LDC), WSCC: LDC testing has been cancelled for this semester. WSCC is currently working on a plan to offer testing opportunities for students in the fall.
TCAT, Morristown Dual Enrollment: When Hamblen County Schools closed, Dual Enrollment student accounts at TCAT froze. Students will receive the grade they had and the hours accumulated at the time of the closure. Seniors will receive his or her current grade for graduation purposes. The student will be able to continue their program at TCAT when they are accepted by the school after high school graduation.
Advanced Placement (AP) Testing: The College Board has announced modified testing procedures for 2019-20. This year’s AP Exams will be open book/open note. Exams will be given from May 11 through May 22. Make-up test dates will be available for each subject from June 1 through June 5. Students can take the exam at home or in schools, if they reopen. In late April, College Board will provide AP students and educators with information on how to access the testing system on test day, and video demonstrations so that students can familiarize themselves with the system. Additional information, including the exam schedule and online review resources, can be accessed at: https://apcoronavirusupdates.collegeboard.org/students. Students may also contact their AP teacher for additional information.
Spring 2020 testing for all SDC courses has been cancelled to protect students and teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
We have explored other testing options, but the learning management platform that students test on does not provide the security requirements nor does it have the proper plagiarism detection software that would be needed for remote, at-home testing.
SDC challenge exams are unique because they not only count as an end of course exam at the high school level but can allow a student to bank postsecondary credit if the student reaches the cut score set by postsecondary faculty.
We will provide students who want an opportunity to bank postsecondary credit with a testing window during the month of September 2020.
Students who wish to take the challenge exam will have the opportunity to test in September of 2020. We will work with the SDC coordinator to identify the students who wish to take the SDC test. More details will be coming in the next several weeks regarding the logistics of testing in September, but we encourage teachers to reach out to all their students and let them know they will have the opportunity to test.
Expanded Test Sites
We will be working with each community college and TCAT to serve as test sites for seniors who have graduated. Graduated students who wish to test to potentially earn postsecondary credit will be able to take the challenge exam at the TBR campus that is most convenient for them. Graduated students will also be able to come back to your high school to test, if that is the most convenient option for that student.
Online Review Lessons for Students
We will be recruiting and contracting with current SDC teachers to record review sessions and create review materials e.g., practice problems or essay prompts with exemplar answers for students to view during the month of August to prepare for the optional testing window. More details about these review lessons will come out this summer.
Ready Graduate and Graduation Requirements Update
Additional information about Ready Graduate accountability will be coming out in the next several weeks. The State Board of Education will hold a special meeting on April 9, 2020 to update policy regarding graduation and grading requirements that will reflect the cancellation of SDC testing.
Teacher Training
Teacher training will still take place this summer because it is virtual for all teachers. As a reminder, training is one-time and we will not require teachers to train every summer unless there are major updates to the learning objectives or the challenge exam or a teacher is going to be teaching a new SDC course for which they have not completed the training.
Transcription of Scores from September Testing
We will provide guidance to your SIS vendor to import your students’ scores from the September testing window in late October. These scores will need to be added to official student transcripts by school counselors.
2020-2021 SDC Registration
If you have not registered your school and teachers for SDC courses for the 2020-2021 school year, here is the link that principals or their designee should fill out. You can submit the form more than once if you have more teachers you need to register than the form allows. Registration is due April 17, 2020.
Spring 2020 testing for all SDC courses has been cancelled to protect students and teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
We have explored other testing options, but the learning management platform that students test on does not provide the security requirements nor does it have the proper plagiarism detection software that would be needed for remote, at-home testing.
SDC challenge exams are unique because they not only count as an end of course exam at the high school level but can allow a student to bank postsecondary credit if the student reaches the cut score set by postsecondary faculty.
We will provide students who want an opportunity to bank postsecondary credit with a testing window during the month of September 2020.
Students who wish to take the challenge exam will have the opportunity to test in September of 2020. We will work with the SDC coordinator to identify the students who wish to take the SDC test. More details will be coming in the next several weeks regarding the logistics of testing in September, but we encourage teachers to reach out to all their students and let them know they will have the opportunity to test.
Expanded Test Sites
We will be working with each community college and TCAT to serve as test sites for seniors who have graduated. Graduated students who wish to test to potentially earn postsecondary credit will be able to take the challenge exam at the TBR campus that is most convenient for them. Graduated students will also be able to come back to your high school to test, if that is the most convenient option for that student.
Online Review Lessons for Students
We will be recruiting and contracting with current SDC teachers to record review sessions and create review materials e.g., practice problems or essay prompts with exemplar answers for students to view during the month of August to prepare for the optional testing window. More details about these review lessons will come out this summer.
Ready Graduate and Graduation Requirements Update
Additional information about Ready Graduate accountability will be coming out in the next several weeks. The State Board of Education will hold a special meeting on April 9, 2020 to update policy regarding graduation and grading requirements that will reflect the cancellation of SDC testing.
Teacher Training
Teacher training will still take place this summer because it is virtual for all teachers. As a reminder, training is one-time and we will not require teachers to train every summer unless there are major updates to the learning objectives or the challenge exam or a teacher is going to be teaching a new SDC course for which they have not completed the training.
Transcription of Scores from September Testing
We will provide guidance to your SIS vendor to import your students’ scores from the September testing window in late October. These scores will need to be added to official student transcripts by school counselors.
2020-2021 SDC Registration
If you have not registered your school and teachers for SDC courses for the 2020-2021 school year, here is the link that principals or their designee should fill out. You can submit the form more than once if you have more teachers you need to register than the form allows. Registration is due April 17, 2020.