Course Guide 2011-2012 - Bentonville Public Schools

F. Students New To BHSBentonville High School receives many new students each year. Our counseling staff works with transfer studentsand their parents to ensure appropriate placements in the courses needed to meet graduation requirements. Thepolicies listed below will explain how the placement decisions are made.Home School PolicyArkansas law specifies that a high school is not responsible for providing credits, grades, transcript, or diploma for astudent in home schooling instruction. However, the law goes on to state that the home-schooled student may earn adiploma by entering high school and completing a minimum of nine (9) months in school in classes of appropriateplacement. The student must also meet the graduation requirements for Bentonville High School.Interview and DocumentationDuring an interview the parent/guardian and student will be responsible for providing to the school counselor thefollowing documentation in order for the appropriate decision to be made regarding student placement in courses.This documentation will include but not be limited to:• Documentation that application for home schooling has been approved• A copy of the student’s Individualized Education Program (IEP) (required by Arkansas home school laws)• Documentation from the Home School Academy/Company showing courses the student successfullycompleted, dates of study, and student successful completion of courses, and• Curriculum guides/sample work completed by the student in each course where credit is being requested.Awarding of CreditWhen the appropriate documentation of work completed by the student is given to the school counselor, the workand documentation will be evaluated by a committee composed of a counselor, appropriate department facultymembers, and the grade level assistant principal. The decision to award credit in a specific subject area will bedetermined by considering the following:• The course work aligns with course offerings at BHS• There is evidence of mastery of the standards for the course being consideredThe committee may take any of the following actions on a course-by-course basis:1. Grant credit (any credit granted will be placed on the student’s transcript as “pass” or “credit” with no letter ornumerical grade assigned); or2. Grant credit contingent upon the student’s passing a subsequent course, making a satisfactory score on astandardized test, or providing additional information to substantiate the student has knowledge of a specificsubject area; or3. Deny credit.Transfer Students From Private U.S. SchoolsWhen a student transfers from a private school (accredited or non-accredited), a committee of appropriate personnelto include a counselor, department chair, and administrator will review and determine the awarding of credits andgrades. It will be the responsibility of the parent or guardian of the transferring student to provide school officialswith a copy of the most recent official student transcript, a copy of the private school course description book, andgraded samples of the student’s work for the review of the school committee.Weighted credit will be given ONLY for the transfer of successfully completed Advanced Placement (AP) andInternational Baccalaureate (IB) courses with verification of AP/IB exams taken. All other courses will receive noadditional weight in determining the grade point average for a student who transfers from a private school.16