Investigation of High School Credit and Placement for Summer Coursework Taken Outside of Local Schools

Abstract

This study examined how local schools responded to students’ outside-of-school summer courses, particularly regarding the awarding of credit and appropriate placement. It involved 262 middle and high school administrators of students who had attended a gifted summer program at a local university. Survey data showed the critical influence of the school’s policies on granting credit for outside-of-school coursework and institutional accreditation on the school’s responses. For high schools, territory or administrative issues such as the school’s own policy on credit, prior notice of a student’s participation in the program, sharing outside-of-school course syllabi with school officials in advance, the type of course, and accreditation of the summer program were crucial in decisions regarding the awarding of credit. For middle schools, the school’s own evaluation of a student’s mastery of the course content, prior notice of the student’s participation in the program, and the student’s performance in the outside-of-school course were the most significant factors that affected schools’ responses regarding appropriate placement. Findings showed that schools’ responses were conservative and that parents need to petition more actively for credit or placement for their children.