Overview
This article covers all the required fields that must be entered on the student's course history screen. It will also cover what to enter into course history for special cases, including credits earned through assessment, secondary credits earned in middle school, secondary credits for completing a middle school language sequence, virtual grades, and course transfers from out-of-state or private schools.
Secondary Course History Data Entry Basics
Required fields for all Course History Grades include:
- Course Number – The course number must be a valid course number in the course code directory from DOE. Be careful when entering grades from private schools or out of state, see our guidelines in these sections of this document.
- Course Title – This should automatically be filled in when you enter the course number if your district is using the course catalog.
- Course Grade - Course Grade Must be one of the following (NO LOWER CASE): A+, A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, C-, D+, D, D-, F, I, N, U, P, S, E, WP, FL, NG, W or WF
- Credits – Number of credits attempted
- Credits Earned – Number of credits earned
- Grading Scale – Scale for GPA Points and Weighted GPA points to use, typically Regular, Honors, AP etc depending on your district policy.
- GPA Points – this should automatically be filled when you select the grading scale
- Weighted GPA Points (if applicable) – this should automatically be filled when you select the grading scale
- Grade Level – The grade level of the student when they took this course
- District of Instruction – The district where the student took this course
- School of Instruction – The school where the student took this course
- Graduation Subject Area – Subject area this course counts towards
- Affects GPA – Normally this must be checked. However, this can be unchecked so that a record appears on the transcript but does not affect the student's cumulative GPA. Note, if credits attempted are entered, they will still count unless you remove them.
- Course History - Records with the Course History flag checked are the only grades that appear on the student transcripts, count for HS credit, and affect the cumulative GPA. These are the grade records which are only reported at the end of the year in Survey 5.
There are many other fields on the grade records which are used for specific scenarios which we have outlined in the rest of this document.
CLEP, AP and EOC Credit by Assessment
If a student attains a passing score on an EOC assessment, Advanced Placement Examination, or CLEP test, these students must also have a course history record entered to show that credit was earned by passing the corresponding test. The course number used on the EOC record should match the basic EOC course (IE not honors), and for CLEP and AP use the course number which is applicable to that test.
The following fields should also be assigned on these course history records:
- Full Year Grade
- Percent Grade is blank
- Letter Grade = T
- Credits Attempted = 0
- Credits Earned = 1
- GPA Points = 0
- Weighted GPA Points = 0
- Affects GPA = checked
- Course History = checked
- Credit by Assessment = checked
Note: students who pass an EOC without taking the course will need to be flagged manually by updating the assessment passed field on the graduation tab to code E in addition to entering the Pass Date.
In the case that a student has taken the course and failed the course, but passed the EOC assessment you can still award credit for the EOC, but in this case you should NOT check Credit by Assessment as this will result in “double-dipping” for FTE purposes.
Note: make sure to uncheck “EOC Assessment without taking the Course" checkbox which is used so you can pull the student on the pre-id since normally the only ones who pull on the pre-id are enrolled in the course.
Passing EOC after Completing Only 1 Semester
In the case where a student takes a semester of an EOC course and then takes and passes the EOC without taking the second semester, both semesters will need to be entered in course history as follows:
-
Semester 1 Grade
- Percent Grade = Percent Grade Earned by Student
- Letter Grade = Letter Grade Earned by Student
- Credits Attempted = 0.5
- Credits Earned = 0.5
- GPA Points = Points Earned for Grade Earned
- Weighted GPA Points = Points Earned for Grade Earned
- Affects GPA = checked
- Course History = checked
- Credit by Assessment = unchecked
-
Semester 2 Grade
- Percent Grade is blank
- Letter Grade = T
- Credits Attempted = 0
- Credits Earned = 0.5
- GPA Points = 0
- Weighted GPA Points = 0
- Affects GPA = checked
- Course History = checked
- Credit by Assessment = checked
Secondary Credits Earned in Middle School
When Middle School students earn high school credits, their course history records should be flagged with one of the Course Flag fields marked with the value 9.
There are corresponding course flag fields on the master schedule in the Florida tab for indicating which secondary courses are delivered in middle school. If grades are posted in a section with this field set, the grade record will have appropriate course flag marked.
Entering HS Course Content Credits for Completion of a MS Language Sequence
It is each district school board's responsibility to determine high school world language placement policies for those students who complete the Middle/Junior (M/J) World Languages two-course or three-course sequence in middle school. Districts may use the high school world language course number(s) for middle school students who will be awarded high school credit for successfully completing the course and passing the end-of-course (EOC) examination.
In Course History you would enter:
- Course Number = HS World Language Course Number
- Grade Title = NG
- Credit attempted = 0
- Credit Earned = 0.5 or 1 as applicable
- Subject Area = EL or WL as applicable
- Course History = Checked
- Affects GPA = Checked
This will give them the credit without affecting their GPA.
District Level Virtual Grades
When entering virtual grades for completers it is advisable for you to use the option under Users > Teacher Programs > Post Final Grades. This will automatically link the final grade to the master schedule which is important when reporting completers for FTE funding in Survey 4.
State Level FLVS Courses in Progress
When a student takes a course through FLVS school district that is not through your district’s virtual program, you may wish to enter the course in progress so that it shows in the graduation requirements report. To do so you must enter the following:
- Course Flag = P
- Grade title = NG
- Credits Attempted 0.5 or 1 as applicable
- Credits earned = 0
- Course History = Checked
- Affects GPA = Unchecked
Out of State & Private School transfers
Each course transferred into a Florida public school by an out-of-state or non-public school student should be matched with a course title and number when such course provides substantially the same content. A few transfer courses may not be close enough in content to be matched. For those courses, a subject area transfer number is provided. The transfer number is listed as the last number in each major subject area on the CCD (http://www.fldoe.org/policy/articulation/ccd/). Note: Transfer numbers do not receive any credit in the Bright Futures Scholarship Program.