Coronavirus and Schools: Dual Enrollment Courses in the Virtual Environment
CORONAVIRUS UPDATE
Prior to the pandemic-related school closings, we had students in dual enrollment courses offered through our local community college but taught by our high school staff. Some students in the course paid for college credit and others have not. My question concerns only those who paid for and are expecting college credit, in addition to high school credit, for this class. The community college is suggesting that underclassmen receive an incomplete grade and complete the remaining instruction in the Fall of 2020. For seniors in these courses, on the other hand, the community college recommends that we provide the remaining instruction and award a final grade. The problem is our district is working under the “review and enrichment” form of the “continuity of education.” We have not, in other words, included new planned instruction in our “continuity” plan posted on our website and submitted to PDE. Would it be acceptable to provide instruction to the students who paid for college credit so that they can complete the college syllabus objectives and receive a grade for college course purposes only? These students would not receive high school grading for the additional coursework.
Yes. Your high school teachers are providing the new instruction on behalf of the community college and for purpose of awarding community college credit only, so this instruction will not undermine your “enrichment”-only “continuity of education plan.” Students with disabilities who are taking this class for college credit must have the accommodations and modifications they need to participate, consistent with whatever parameters the college has established for the award of credit.
In our opinion earlier this week concerning high school graduation, we recommended grading courses for high school credit based on student performance through March 13. We would recommend same for this course, even if some of the students will move on with virtual instruction purely for college credit.
For high school seniors, we had recommended assigning a high school grade and credit for virtual instruction only when doing so was necessary, for graduation purposes, to recover a failing grade in pre-March 13 coursework. That is not an option you have as an “enrichment”-only district.