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Enrollment/Participation in a Home Education Program for all grade levels K-12:
- Parent obtains forms/information packet regarding Home Education from the Office of School Choice, Home School 30 E. Texar Drive.
- Parent completes “Intent to Establish a Home Education Program” form if he/she plans to enroll their child in Home Education and return it to the Office of School Choice, Home School, 30 East Texar Drive, Pensacola, Florida 32503.
- Parent notifies school of intent to home school.
- File is started on student(s) and kept in the Office of School Choice.
- Yearly evaluations/standardized test results are submitted by the parent and placed in the file in order for their child to be promoted or retained. (Requested due date is June 30th)
- A student cannot be promoted more than one grade level each school year or progress to a grade level higher than his/her age per Escambia County Pupil Progression Plan.
Returning to Public School from a Home Education Program for grades 1-6*:
- Parent submits the annual evaluation if the student has completed a calendar school year in order for the home school student to be promoted. If the student doesn’t have an evaluation, then he/she will be placed at the last grade level achieved.
- Parent completes “Termination of Home Education Program” form and submits to the Office of School Choice, Home School, 30 East Texar Drive, Pensacola, FL 32503.
- Parent goes to assigned school and enrolls child in appropriate grade level.
- *If returning to public school during the student’s 6th grade year, then see grade 7-12 directions for requesting credits.
Returning to Public School from a Home Education Program for grades 7-12 and requesting course credits:
Grades 6-8. Students will need to earn 12.5 course credit points during the middle school years. The student will need 3 course credits each in English, Math, Science and History. The half course credit
(.5) is a required Career Exploration course.
Grades 9-12. Students will need to earn 24 course credits during their high school years. Florida Graduation Requirements vary according to the year the student started high school; however, the following is required for all students: 4 credits in English, 3 credits in Math (one must be in Algebra I), 3 credits in Social Studies (1 credit-American History, 1 credit-World History, ½ credit Government and ½ credit Economics) and 3 credits in Science (2 with a lab). You can determine the graduation requirements at www.fldoe.org .
- Parent completes a “Termination of Home Education Program” form.
- Parent enrolls child in school at the appropriate grade level. If the student doesn’t have an evaluation or portfolio of materials, then he/she will be placed at the last grade level achieved.
- Florida Virtual School and regionally accredited school course credits will be accepted at face value and granted upon entering public school.
- Private schools that are not regionally accredited and home education course credits shall be validated by performance in classes at the receiving public school. A student shall be placed at the appropriate sequential grade level and should earn a minimum of a “C” at the end of the first grading period for the course(s) he/she is requesting credit.
- Students who do not meet this requirement shall have credits validated using the Alternative Validation Procedure:
(a) portfolio(s) evaluation by the home school designee; along with district portfolio evaluators shall examine and determine mastery of all state curriculum frameworks and Sunshine State Standards. If the portfolio(s) meet all state and district guidelines, course credit(s) will be awarded.
(b) written recommendation by a Florida “General Education” certified teacher selected by the parent and approved by Superintendent’s home school designee;
(c) demonstrated performance in courses taken through dual enrollment or at other public or private accredited schools;
(d) demonstrated proficiencies on nationally-normed standardized subject area assessments; or demonstrated proficiencies on district subject area exams.
(e) demonstrated proficiencies on the FCAT; or
(f) written review of the criteria utilized for a given subject provided by the former school. Students will be provided at least (90) days from the date of transfer to prepare for assessments outlined in (d ) and (e) above.
- Students must be enrolled at least the final semester of their senior year to be able to earn a diploma from the high school, and graduate with his/her class. Students will be required to complete all graduation requirements.
Students Completing High School in a Home Education Program:
- Parent obtains forms/information packet regarding Home Education from the Office of School Choice, Home School, 30 East Texar Drive, Pensacola, FL 32503.
- Parent completes “Intent to Establish a Home Education Program” if he/she plans to enroll their child in Home Educations and return to the Office of School Choice, Home School.
- Parent notifies school of intent to home school.
- File is started on the student and kept in the Office of School Choice, Home School.
- Yearly evaluations/standardized tests results are placed in the file as parents submit them to the Office of School Choice, Home School (requested due date is June 30).
- At the point the student has completed high school work; the student may then register to take the General Education Diploma (GED) at George Stone Adult High School, Judy Andrews Center, Pensacola Junior College Adult High School or any other facility at which the GED program is offered. The GED will be awarded if a passing score is earned.
- Parent submits written letter of termination upon student’s completion of GED.
- Home Education students will not receive a diploma from the School District of Escambia County unless they enroll and take classes in a regular high school program at least the semester in which his/her class graduates, and has earned enough credits to graduate and met all graduation requirements.
- Home Education students may choose to graduate from a regionally accredited correspondence program. See Florida Department of Education Home School website for this information at www.fldoe.org .
- Home Education students may complete their home education high school program through a portfolio evaluation by a Florida Certified teacher or standardized test score taken while in 12th grade.
Grade Placement
and Transfer of Credit(s)
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Before admitting a middle or an elementary grade child
from either a home education
program or a private school which is not regionally accredited,
the principal shall require evidence of the student’s
prior attendance and grade level at such school or program.
Home education students enrolling in a district school
shall provide evidence through a home education annual
evaluation in accordance with Florida School Code that
the student has completed the grade from which he/she
was withdrawn. (If no annual evaluation is presented,
the child shall be permitted to enroll at that grade level
or at the grade level attained by the majority of other
students during the period since the child exited an accredited
private or public school, whichever is less, and be administered
a standardized test to determine at which grade level
the child is functioning. If the test results indicate
the child is functioning at a lower grade than the grade
at which the child was enrolled when admitted, the principal
shall notify the parent or legal guardian in writing that
the child shall be placed in the appropriate grade/program
as indicated by the school staff.)
Home education students enrolling in an Escambia County
School shall not advance to a
grade level higher than the grade level attained by the
majority of other students his/her age. The parent or
legal guardian of the home education student shall submit
an annual evaluation of the home education program each
year in which the child is home schooled. No more than
one (1) evaluation per grade year may be submitted each
year.
Students who have been recommended by a District school
principal for retention based on FCAT scores, poor attendance,
poor academic performance and/or any other indicator and
are then withdrawn to a home education program over the
summer and shall not advance to the next grade. No student
can be assigned to a grade level based solely on age or
other factors that constitute social promotion. [Florida
School Code 1008.25(6)(a)]
Grade placement or subject matter credit shall be accepted
at face value from other
schools as shown by report cards or transcribed records
only under the following
conditions:
High schools shall accept at face value the credits of
students transferring from a
Florida public school, from a public school in one of
the other forty-nine (49) states,
from a regionally accredited non-public school, from a
non-public school which is
recognized by SACS as meeting standards, from a Department
of Defense school,
or from a school accredited by a regional accrediting
agency under the governance
of the National Study of School Evaluation. The regional
accrediting agencies under
the governance of the National Study of School Evaluation
are Middle States
Association of Colleges and Schools, New England Association
of Colleges and
Schools, North Central Association of Colleges and Schools,
Northwest Association
of Colleges and Schools, Southern Association of Colleges
and Schools, and
Western Association of Colleges and Schools.
High schools shall accept credits of students transferring
from schools that do not
meet the above guidelines subject to the following conditions:
PRIVATE SCHOOL (NOT REGIONALLY ACCREDITED)
AND HOME EDUCATION
6A-1.09941 State Uniform Transfer of High School Credits.
The purpose of this rule is to establish uniform procedures
relating to the acceptance of
transfer work and credit for students entering Florida's
public schools. The procedures
shall be as follows:
(1) Credits and grades earned and offered for acceptance
shall be based on official
transcripts and shall be accepted at face value subject
to validation, if required by
the receiving school's accreditation. If validation of
the official transcript is deemed
necessary or if the student does not possess an official
transcript or is a home
education student, credits shall be validated through
performance during the first
grading period as outlined in subsection (2) of this rule.
(2) Validation of credits shall be based on performance
in classes at the receiving
school. A student transferring into a school shall be
placed at the appropriate
sequential course level and should have a minimum grade
point average of 2.0 at
the end of the first grading period for the course(s)
he/she is requesting credit.
Students who do not meet this requirement shall have credits
validated using the
Alternative Validation Procedure, as outlined in subsection
(3) of this rule.
(3) Alternative Validation Procedure. If validation based
on performance as
described above is not satisfactory, then any one of the
following alternatives shall
be used for validation purposes as determined by the teacher,
principal, and parent:
(a) portfolio evaluation by the superintendent or designee;
(b) written recommendation by a Florida certified teacher
selected by the
parent and approved by the principal;
(c) demonstrated performance in courses taken through
dual enrollment or
at other public or private accredited schools;
(d) demonstrated proficiencies on nationally-normed standardized
subject
area assessments;
(e) demonstrated proficiencies on the FCAT; or
( f) written review of the criteria utilized for a given
subject provided by the
former school. Students must be provided at least ninety
(90) days from
date of transfer to prepare for assessments outlined in
paragraphs (3)(d)
and (3)(e) of this rule if required.
Specific Authority 1003.25(3) FS. Law Implemented 1003.25(3)
Florida School Code.
History - New 8-28-2000. Formerly 6-1.099, Amended 9-22-2003.
(1) High school credits from private programs which are
not regionally accredited or
recognized as meeting standards by SACS shall not be accepted
at face value.
Transfer of credit shall be accepted subject to a validation
process conducted by the
Director of Secondary Education and the school principal.
(See #3 and #4 on this
page for validation process.)
(2) Parent(s) shall provide the superintendent’s
home education designee with the
portfolio and a request for high school credit form for
each course they wish to have
evaluated for credit. The portfolio shall consist of a
log which is made
contemporaneously with the instruction, a list which designates
by title any reading
material used, and samples of any writing, worksheets,
workbooks, and creative
materials used or developed by the student.
(3) The alternative education/home education designee
shall in consultation with the
Director of Secondary Education and District portfolio
evaluators review the Florida
course description and determine that it matches a course
listed in the State Course
Code Directory. The portfolio shall be examined to verify
that proof of mastery of all
state curriculum frameworks and Sunshine State Standards
of the listed course are
included therein. If the portfolio meets all state and
district guidelines, credit will be
awarded.
(4) The evaluation/validation team may recommend the student
take the final exam for
the course in which he/she is requesting credit if enough
evidence is not present in
the portfolio to recommend granting credit. The exam shall
be administered to the
student within ninety days of enrolling in the school.
Upon passing the exam, credit
for the course will be awarded.
(5) To receive any type of diploma from a district school,
home education students shall
attend that school for a minimum of one semester, which
includes the last semester
prior to graduation. Upon enrollment in the district assigned
school, the portfolio(s)
shall be reviewed and evaluated for credit.
(6) Credits earned in a State of Florida approved Adult
General Education Program
for purposes of acceleration or remediation shall be applied
to requirements for
graduation provided that:
(a) any course taken in the co-enrolled program is one
that is also
offered in the regular nine through twelve high school
programs,
(b) the high school principal approves, in advance, courses
for
which credit is to be transferred,
(c) no more than four credits earned in a co-enrolled
program are granted
toward the awarding of a standard high school diploma,
(d) the student is at least sixteen (16) years of age.
In cases of hardship,
the principal, in agreement with the Director of Career
and Adult
Education, may waive the age requirement.
(e) co-enrolled students must pass 100% of the course
competencies at the
75% mastery level.
(7) Credit may be granted through correspondence provided
that:
(a) the course is approved in advance by the principal
and is administered by
a State of Florida accredited school,
(b) a maximum of one credit earned by this method each
year (maximum of
4) in grades 9-12 is used to meet graduation requirements.
(c) the student is meeting full-time high school attendance
requirements.
(8) A student in a grade below nine who is enrolled at
a local high school in a course
listed in the nine through twelve section of the Course
Code Directory may receive
graduation credit or Florida Academic Scholars Award requirement
upon successful
completion of the course. That student shall be classified
as a ninth grader for that
portion of the school day for which the student is enrolled
in the nine through twelve
course. In Escambia County School District this is limited
to math courses taken on
the high school campus as a result of math progression
which cannot be met on the
middle school campus.
(9) Credits transferred from other states shall be evaluated
in terms of the requirements
of the state where such credit was earned. Graduation
requirements shall not be
retroactive for students transferring into the state provided
the student has met all
requirements of the state from which he/she is transferring.
(10) The procedures for placement of exceptional students
transferring into the District
are prescribed in the Special Programs and Procedures
for Exceptional Students
and the student’s IEP.
(11) Any student who was previously enrolled in a regular
school program and has not
attended that program or any other regular program full-time
for at least one school
term and who seeks admission to a regular district school
program may be re-
entered or be admitted to an alternative district school
program upon the approval of
the Director of Secondary Education after consideration
of a recommendation from
the principals of the district schools involved.
(12) Credits earned through Florida Virtual School (FLVS)
shall be accepted at face
value. The number of credits that can be earned through
FLVS are not limited. If a
course is offered on the high school campus and is a part
of a student’s schedule,
the course will be taken on the high school campus and
not through FLVS.
(Exceptions can be granted under Accelerated Diploma Options.)
(13) Students who enter a Florida public school at the
eleventh or twelfth grade from out-
of-state or from a foreign country shall not be required
to spend additional time in a
Florida public school in order to meet the high school
course requirements of the
school district, state, or country from which he or she
is transferring. Students must
earn a 2.0 GPA and pass the Grade 10 FCAT to receive a
standard diploma or an
alternative assessment as specified in s. 1008.22(9),
Florida School Code.
(14) The allocation of remedial and supplemental instruction
resources for students shall
occur in the following priority:
(a) students who are deficient in reading by the end of
grade 3
(b)students who fail to meet performance levels required
for promotion
consistent with the district school board’s plan
for student progression.
(15) Each student who does not meet state or district
levels of performance for student
progression in reading, writing, science, and mathematics
for each grade level must
be provided with additional diagnostic assessments to
determine the nature of the
student’s difficulty and areas of academic need.
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