Putting together a high school transcript that accurately reflects student achievements and abilities is a daunting task for many homeschool families. How are credit hours recorded for college-prep courses? How are grades determined for a GPA? And how important are those standardized tests—the PSAT, SAT, and ACT?
There is good news! Most curriculum texts, including the Classical Conversations® Challenge program, explain what kind of credit hours students can receive if they complete all the work assigned in a course. The grade for that course is usually dependent on test results. Some course tests are written, while others, such as debate tests, are oral, or perhaps a combination of the two.
Still, each homeschool family is different from another, and colleges often face the same issue in evaluating homeschool transcripts as they do with public or private institution transcripts—varied standards. An A in one subject at one school means one thing, while an A in the same subject at another school means something different. The difference may lie in a variety of factors such as teaching standards, course difficulty, and more, but this is one reason colleges must rely on nationally standardized tests like the SAT to evaluate student applications. All students take the same test on the same information, are scored by the same standard, and are evaluated according to that score.
So, if your high school student is college bound, it pays to have an accurate transcript depicting a well-rounded learner, but it is also important for your student to develop good testing skills. This will help to ensure that the current standardized tests accurately reflect your student’s knowledge.
Classical Conversations is committed to providing standardized testing and chooses to use the Stanford Test. Our hope is that this will help your student learn testing skills years before it’s time to take the PSAT, SAT, or ACT.
So take heart! Transcripts need not be as daunting as you think. Be thoughtful in tallying your credit hours and grades, tackle the task of taking tests, and pray for the Lord to guide your family through this process in His unique way.
Visit AcademicRecords.net for your transcript needs and sign up for Stanford testing at homeschooltestingservices.com.
