What do you do with hours that don’t add up to a full credit? Can you give partial credit?
I have a question for you. Last year, Katie’s sophomore year, she spent only 28 hours on Spanish. This summer she added about 15 more, for a total of 43. What can I do with these hours, since they don’t add up to a half credit? Would it be alright to assign no credit for the sophomore year, and use these credits toward the junior year? We could even try to achieve an entire credit for the junior year, using these 43 hours toward that goal. Does that work?
~Jan in Washington
Hi Jan!
It’s so nice to hear from you! Thanks for writing. And I’m ready to talk about Spanish credits!
When you don’t have quite enough hours for something, and you are counting the credits based on hours, then the answer is “wait.” Just keep adding up those hours until you DO have enough hours for a credit, and then you put “Spanish 1, 1 credit” on the transcript. It’s OK if that happens in December, June, or October – just whenever they get to that 120 -180 hour mark, give her the credit. There are some exceptions. Let me explain.
If you are using a curriculum that has some measurement in it, then you can give her credit based on how much curriculum she has finished. In other words, if she got through level one in Bob Jones or Rosetta Stone or Power Glide, then you can give her one whole credit regardless of hours.
If she is pretty good at Spanish, and just didn’t do much bookwork, then you can measure her level of Spanish achievement with a SAT 2 Subject test. If she passes the exam, even with just a sample test at home, then you know she has learned two year’s worth of Spanish. That only works if she has become relatively fluent somehow – speaking it naturally at work or something. Here is a link to the SAT 2 Subject Test.
I don’t know much about your situation or your Spanish class, but it sounds like I would leave off Spanish for sophomore year. Wait until she earns 120 hours, then put “Spanish 1, 1 credit” on her transcript with the month and year she completed it, like “November 2009″. Then I would keep working on Spanish throughout the year, and when she arrived at her next 120 hours, then I would put in her second high school credit of Spanish.
Since your daughter is a junior this year, the time is getting just a little bit short for foreign language. To finish it in time, I think it would help to make sure she does Spanish FIRST each day, before everything else. That will help her be consistent with it all year, and help her to complete the two credits by the time she graduates.
Thanks for the great question! There is more information in chapter 6 of my transcripts e-book.
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