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Well, welcome to this video in which I’ll talk about a particular topic that’s related to course challenge, and specifically, a challenge exam. If you aren’t familiar with challenge exams, please look at the other video that I’ve made on this topic. The topic I want to talk about today deals with why THEE does not support, for lack of a better term, a “leapfrog” or doesn’t allow a student to leapfrog into a 30-level course without taking literally taking and earning the credits for the prerequisite courses.
For example, a student could in the past wait until, say, Grade 12 and write the challenge exam for Math 30-1 or dash 2 and earn credit for Math 30-1 or 2 without previously having earned the course credits for Math 10-1 and/or two and Mass 20-1 or dash 2. So that student would leapfrog over the prerequisites, go right into the advanced course and get not only credit for the advanced course, assuming the student passed the challenge exam, but also then get “waived prerequisite credits” for the prerequisites. THEE doesn’t support that currently because of a number of reasons, and I’ve listed out these reasons for this video, and I just want to cover them because some, I do know other programs do support that, and that’s just something that’s different here at THEE. We certainly will offer a student the course, the opportunity to earn the credits for the prerequisite courses, it’s just through a course challenge, or rather, a challenge exam, and some parents don’t like the fact that we have exams, but that’s just how we operate our program. So let me go through the list and give you some background. Again, you may not agree with the reasons, but I did want to communicate to you the reasons so that it doesn’t seem just an arbitrary decision on our part.
Why We Don’t Allow Leapfrogging
Reason 1: Life Changes
The first reason is something I call, I just label, “life could change.” Life changes all the time. For example, if you’re putting all your eggs in the basket of waiting to Grade 12 to write those 30-level course challenges or challenge exams, then to me, you are putting all your eggs in that one basket. You’re you’re waiting in Grade 10 and 11 to do anything related to course challenge and earning course credits, you’re waiting till Grade 12 to write the challenge exams. You are assuming that your son or daughter will pass the challenge exam or whatever portfolio, whatever it is. Here for subjects of core subjects, they’re going to be an exam. So anyway, you’re putting all your eggs in that basket. You’re you’re not doing anything in some situations for Grade 10 and 11, you’re waiting till Grade 12. And then something happens, whether that thing that happens is your son or daughter doesn’t pass the exam. Well then you’re kind of, that’s a surprise. We can help you deal with it, but that’s a surprise, that’s not something you’re expecting.
Other things in life that changes, that can change, is maybe you move out of the province. So if you’ve been waiting or you move out of the province or you decide to go back to school, or not you but as a parent but your son or daughter decides to go back to school. Well if you’ve waited until Grade 12 or even Grade 11, right, you haven’t done anything for course challenge for Grade 10. You haven’t done anything for Grade 11, and your plan for Grade 12 for writing the 30-level tests, the exams, all of a sudden changes because your son or daughter wants to go back to school. Well, that school has you, you have no transcript. Your son or daughter has no transcript to show the school principal that your son or daughter is ready for Grade 12 courses and the teacher-taught program. We have had literal examples here, not just hypothetical things happen but real life situations happen here where a Grade, for example, for a Grade 10 student it was traditional during Grade 10, had no plans of earning course credits. Well, he decided to go back to school here locally in Sherwood Park for Grade 11. Well, he tried to, he did enroll in the local public school for Grade 11. The principal said, “Well, which courses do you want?” He said, “All Grade 11 courses.” He had no prerequisites from Grade 10 because his plan, again, was to just wait till Grade 12, write the challenge exams, then leapfrog into Grade 12 with course credits. Well, the principal said, “You don’t have any course prerequisites, you’re going to start with Grade 10.” So that’s not, you know, life doesn’t stop, that’s not something that is life-altering per se, but it’s something that wasn’t expected and could have been avoided completely if the student had built the transcript, his transcript, starting in Grade 10. And then if Grade 11 changes, the plans for Grade 11 changes, well then he has those course credits from Grade 10 already set. So first reason: life changes. So if you’re putting all your eggs in that one basket or Grade 12, it’s a little precarious. Also, the example of moving out of province, that happens too. So that’s reason number one.
Reason 2: Planning for Plan B
Also with that, with life changes and plans changing, one thing that could change is you start off thinking, “Well, you,” I’m using “you” meaning the student, so let’s say the student thinks that he or she only wants course credits, right? You’ve checked out the university or college admission requirements, and they state the minimum requirement is these 30-level courses, not not a diploma. I do want to say a little bit of a rabbit trail, those are minimum requirements. So not too many students earn admission to a very competitive program by earning minimum requirements, but just want to throw that in there for extra. So anyway, let’s say the student is aiming at a particular program that says, “You don’t need a diploma, you just need specific 30-level courses.” Well, that’s great, and that might actually happen, but life changes. You you’re not really, you’re not preparing for a Plan B when you wait until Grade 12 to leapfrog into those 30-level courses, and so what oftentimes changes is the the plan for a different program. Well then this other program requires a diploma. So then you’re thinking, “Well, okay, my son or daughter needs a hundred credits, not just these two, maybe up to four core courses at the 30 level.” “Where are you going to get a hundred credits in one school year?” It’s just not going to happen, so we recommend even if you don’t plan on needing the diploma, don’t want it, but you do want 30-level course credits, go ahead, start in Grade 10, start building that transcript. Get your Phys Ed 10, 20, 30, get other courses. Check out our video and information at the website concerning the new, relatively new, $650 grant to high school students who are home educating, and that, well anyway, you can watch that grant. You can buy a course, you could buy work experience from a teacher-taught program, you could buy any course, special projects. I mentioned work experience and special projects because those are two series of courses that a home ed student can’t, well, any student cannot challenge. So you can’t earn credits for work experience or special projects as a home education student, meaning Code 600, not including shared responsibility, which is technically part of home education. So anyway, you have options and for earning course credits during Grade 10 and 11, and we highly recommend you doing that. That also brings us to reason I would say number three. First reason, you know, you put all your eggs in one basket if you’re waiting to Grade 12. Life changes, you can move out of the province, you can want a different program, just you need a Plan B at least in my view.
Reason 3: The Rutherford Scholarship
And number three, the Rutherford scholarship is a really good source of financial aid, and a student can’t earn the Rutherford scholarship for grade levels where core courses just have a P for “pass.” The Rutherford scholarship does require an actual mark, and a high mark at that, but a mark, not just P for pass. And so when a student waits to Grade 12 to write course challenges, let’s say the student does wonderful and gets those prerequisites filled in, say at a at a different program, home ed program, well that that is it, that’s great, but the Rutherford scholarship’s off the table for those, we say Grade 12, for example Grade 10 and Grade 11, because the student only has a P for pass for those courses. I left the Rutherford scholarship for reason number three just because that that’s minor in the big scheme of things. Usually in my conversations with parents, usually parents are upset that the parent that the student has to write an exam to begin with, but then they they’re upset that their son or daughter can’t just leapfrog into the 30-level courses. It’s another discussion to have. I’m not trying to anger any parents by saying we don’t support that, but there’s a lot that goes in to a course challenge program when you’re following the regulation as it’s stated, and we believe here at THEE that the best way for us to act with integrity, to assure that we are following the rules regarding how to assess a student’s achievement for Alberta Ed courses by giving them a mark, not giving them, but allowing the student to challenge and get that mark to prove that he or she has learned those outcomes from an Alberta course, that’s just that’s that’s complex, it’s very involved, and to do it correctly, we believe that we need to do it this way that we’ve set up, which is to require the student to earn the the courses one by one to earn those prerequisites to eventually get to that higher level course such as the 30-level courses that are most commonly asked for. So those are our three reasons here at THEE for our policy that does not allow for a student to leapfrog into Grade 12 and write those 30-level courses.
